Differences between men and women in self-reported body mass index and its relation to drug use

Pablo Vera-Villarroel,José A Piqueras,Pim Cuijpers,Annemieke Van Straten,Walter Kuhne

doi:10.1186/1747-597x-9-1

Abstract

BackgroundObesity is a public health problem of alarming proportions, including among the university population in Latin America. The purpose of this study was to determine the relation between the self-reported body mass index and the associated drug use and health-risk behaviors.MethodsWe performed a cross-sectional, descriptive study of 3,311 Chilean university students (17–24 years). The variables weight, height, frequency of physical activity, diet quality index, and drug use were evaluated by way of a self-report questionnaire.Results16.7% of students were overweight and 2.1% were obese. Higher rates of overweight and obesity were observed in the men compared to women. There was a significant but moderate association between self-perceived obesity and being men and higher age, and just low with greater use of analgesics and tranquilizers with or without a prescription.ConclusionsThe punctual prevalence rates of self-reported obesity, in this sample, are consistent with other Latin American studies. The risk behaviors associated with perceived obesity in terms of gender, particularly the different pattern of drug use, highlight the importance of considering gender when designing strategies to promote health in a university setting.

Highlights

Obesity is a public health problem of alarming proportions, including among the university population in Latin America
Despite the great number of recent studies on obesity and associated conditions in the Latin American population [5,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28], fewer studies explore its relation with other health-risk behaviors, including smoking, alcohol and other drug use [1,5]
These percentages are very similar to the results found by studies of Spanish-speaking university populations [11,17,23,50] or the study by Lowry et al of American university populations [12]

Summary

Introduction

Obesity is a public health problem of alarming proportions, including among the university population in Latin America. The increase and high prevalence of obesity has led the World Health Organization to consider it a chronic disease of epidemic proportions [1] This condition is a significant modifiable risk factor for most of the main causes of disability and mortality, such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus and osteoarthritis, in both developed [2,3,4] and developing countries [5]. Recent studies have shown a relationship between drug use and sexual in dating violence in college and university students This justifies the need for a more specific analysis between various health problems in young people who may be linked to drug use and associated factors [30]

Objectives

Methods

Conclusion