Relationship between obesity and lifestyle, health and sociodemographic factors among adults participating in cardiovascular disease prevention program

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The prevalence of obesity is steadily increasing in recent decades. It is a major public health issue with multiple consequences. Therefore, it is essential to determine factors leading to obesity and know the consequences of it so there could be a better management of this pandemic in primary health care. METHODS: The survey was carried out at The Hospital of Lithuanian University of Health Sciences Kaunas clinics, Department of Family Medicine. A one‐time quantitative analytical descriptive study was performed. Subjects that are over 40 years old and participated in the National Lithuanian cardiovascular disease prevention program were invited via telephone to attend a special health promotion program. All of the program participants were asked to complete a one‐time questionnaire before the first health promotion program session. There were 173 participants of the study. The response rate was 94.5%. We measured the weight and height of every participant to evaluate the level of their body mass index (BMI). “Rapid Assessment of Physical Activity” questionnaire was used to evaluate the level of physical activity of the participants. The second questionnaire consisted of 44 questions: sociodemographic data, comorbidities and eating habits. Logistic regression of rank sizes was used to find the factors that determine physical activity. RESULTS: The mean age of study participants was 56.71 (SD ± 6.64). The majority were women (83.2%). There were statistically significantly more females over the age of 55 than there were males (p = 0.001). When comparing men and women, a higher proportion (p = 0.020) of men earn over 800 euros per month. Individuals earning more than 500 euros a month are more likely to be non‐obese (p = 0.047). Approximately one‐third of the subjects were obese (37.1%). Obese people were more often (p = 0.041) physically inactive than active. If a person is not obese, the po[...].