Obesity among Health-Care Workers: Which Occupations Are at Higher Risk of Being Obese?

Muhammad Syafiq Kunyahamu,Aziah Daud,Nazirah Jusoh

doi:10.3390/ijerph18084381

Abstract

Obesity among health-care workers (HCWs) is an important issue as it can affect both their health condition and their professional capability. Although adult obesity is attributable to occupational factors, few reports are available on Malaysian health-care workers’ obesity and whether different health-care job categories are related to workers’ obesity. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of obesity among HCWs and the association between various HCW job categories and obesity. A cross-sectional study was conducted by analyzing secondary data from the 2019 annual cardiovascular health screening program, which included information regarding all government health-care workers in the east coast region of Peninsular Malaysia. The subject’s body mass index (BMI) was categorized according to WHO criteria. Only 43% of the subjects had a normal BMI, while 33.1% were categorized as overweight, and 21.1% were obese. Different HCWs’ job categories were shown to be significantly associated with their obesity status, with nurses apparently having a higher risk of being obese (Adj OR = 1.91, 95% CI 1.45, 2.53, p-value < 0.001). This study’s results require further exploration of HCWs’ working condition factors and for different job categories that contribute to obesity. Public health intervention programs to combat obesity should be implemented that primarily target HCW groups at the highest risk of obesity.

Highlights

Obesity has become a significant public-health threat with prevalence increasing worldwide
In terms of the unequal distribution of job categories found in our study, it was reported in another Malaysian local study that 73.4% of health-care workers (HCWs) came from nursing categories [6]
This study showed that one in five HCWs were obese, which is not much different from other

Summary

Introduction

Obesity has become a significant public-health threat with prevalence increasing worldwide. As with other types of profession, HCWs are affected by obesity. Health-care workers (HCWs) should be role models who increase community awareness of obesity prevention and encourage patients to change their behavior towards a healthy lifestyle. Despite working in an environment related to disease prevention and health promotion, HCWs in several studies have shown a trend towards obesity over time [1,2]. Different job categories of HCWs bear different risks of becoming obese. Different job categories of HCWs have different work scope areas which will indirectly contribute to a greater risk of obesity among HCWs [8,9,10]. In their study, that obese doctors are less confident in providing healthy nutrition and exercise advice to their patients [12]

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Discussion

Conclusion