Determinants of Obesity among Working Adults in Wolaita Sodo Town, Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Obesity among working adults is a major public health problem in low-income countries and it increases the risk of morbidity and mortality. This study aimed to assess the determinants of overweight and /obesity among working adults in Wolaita Sodo town, Southern Ethiopia.Methods: Institutional based cross sectional study was conducted from March to April, 2016. Working adults (n꞊422) were the study population. A Simple random sampling technique was used to select study participants. Overweight and /obesity was classified according to WHO classification. Data was entered into EPI info version 3.5.1 and exported into SPSS version 20.0 for analysis. Binary logistic regression model was used to identify factors associated with the outcome variable, and finally multivariate logistic regression model was used to identify independent predictors of overweight and /obesity, with statistical significance set at p<0.050 (95% confidence interval (CI)).Results: Prevalence of overweight and / obesity was 40.7%, out of which 71.4% were among male and 28.6% were among female. The mean ±SD age of male and female was 42.6 ±10.3 years and 40 ± 11.1 years respectively.  Salt intake in diet (AOR= 0.101, 95% CI = 0.3 – 0.32); meal frequency (AOR=23.69, 95% CI= 1.67 – 3.34); use of "Hayat" oil for food preparation (AOR=7.43, 95% CI = 1.72 – 32); being male (AOR=1.79, 95% CI = 1.09 – 2.95) were determinants of overweight and / obesity.Conclusion: This study showed high rate of overweight and /obesity among working adults. Findings suggest the need to implement evidence-based working adults’ nutrition policy and strategies as well as need for intervention to improve dietary salt consumption and the quality of edible oil.

Keywords: Obesity, Working adults, Southern Ethiopia