Prevalence And Associated Sociodemographic Factors of Obesity And Overweight among Public School Teachers in Kurdistan Region

Abstract

Background: Obesity and overweight are two of the main serious health risk factors worldwide. Teachers have been found to be more likely than other groups of the population to be obese or overweight. The study aimed to explore the overweight and obesity prevalence and determine their sociodemographic factors among public school teachers in a sample population in Iraqi Kurdistan. Methods: The cross-sectional study design was applied from September 15th, 2021, to April 1st, 2022. Stratified-simple random sampling technique was used to select 500 school teachers aged from 18 to 64. The current study used a questionnaire and composed of two parts: the first part; included sociodemographic characteristics, and the second part, consisted of measuring body mass index. Results: The majority (40.6%) of teachers were aged 30–39 and 64.8% of them were female, and 54.6% were primary school teachers. The combined overweight and obesity prevalence was 71.4%. The higher obesity and being overweight prevalence was found in those over the age of 30, female, married, low to moderate-income teachers, and teachers with a diploma and lower education levels. The BMI of teachers was statistically associated with age (p=0.024), gender (p≤ 0.001), marital status (p≤0.001), income (p≤ 0.001), and education level (p=0.007). Conclusions: The prevalence of overweight and obesity is high among primary school teachers in this region. They are associated with socio-demographic characteristics