Abstract
BackgroundCertain professions are associated with low physical activity. Workers in such professions spend the most part of their adult working lives less engaged in physical activity if they don’t consciously exercise outside of working hours. This increases their risk of obesity and its associated diseases. This study determined the prevalence of obesity and overweight and associated factors among workers of a financial institution in Accra Metropolis, Ghana.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among 180 workers of a financial institution in Accra using the World Health Organization’s STEPS (STEPwise approach) instrument for non-communicable disease risk factor surveillance. Relevant sociodemographic information were recorded and BMI was computed for each respondent.ResultsThe overall prevalence of obesity and overweight among the bank workers was 55.6 % (17.8 % obese and 37.8 % overweight). After adjusting for other variables, physical activity (OR = 0.34, 95 % CI = 0.13–0.89, p = 0.03), alcohol consumption (OR = 3.00, 95 % CI = 1.35, 6.68, p = 0.007), marital status (OR = 2.74, 95 % CI = 0.96–7.85, p = 0.04), sex (OR = 2.78, 95 % CI = 1.23–6.33, p = 0.01), and age (OR = 1.10, 95 % CI = 1.01–1.20, p = 0.036) were significantly associated with obesity and overweight.ConclusionBeing physically inactive, consumption of alcohol, being married and a female, in addition to old age, increase the risk of obesity and overweight significantly. These factors should inform policy makers in developing strategies to reduce the burden of obesity and overweight among this category of workers.
Highlights
Certain professions are associated with low physical activity
One hundred and eighty (180) employees of a financial institution in Accra Metropolis participated in the study
The findings from this study indicated that the risk of obesity/overweight increases with the number of years spent working with the banking institution, with people who had worked for 3 years or more having an increased risk of obesity/overweight in comparison to those who had worked for less than 1 year
Summary
Certain professions are associated with low physical activity. Workers in such professions spend the most part of their adult working lives less engaged in physical activity if they don’t consciously exercise outside of working hours. This increases their risk of obesity and its associated diseases. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), when an individual’s health is impaired by excessive body fat, that person is said to be obese. World Health Organization updated report [8], shows that the prevalence of obesity worldwide has increased tremendously since 1980. Obesity and overweight kills more people than underweight in many countries, Addo et al BMC Res Notes (2015) 8:599 and these countries account for 65 % of the global population [8]
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