Aim To determine socioeconomic and demographic factors associated with abdominal obesity in women of childbearing age. Methods This cross-sectional study was carried out in family medicine outpatient departments of the Primary Health Care Centre of Canton Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The study included 300 respondents who were divided into two groups: non-abdominal obesity (n=150) and abdominal obesity (n=150). Abdominal obesity was estimated measuring waist circumference. Data concerning socioeconomic and demographic factors (age, marital status, "live alone", place of residence, formal education level, self-perceived financial status) were collected using a designed questionnaire. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the association between socioeconomic, demographic factors and abdominal obesity. Results Abdominal obesity was significantly associated with the life in the urban area (OR=2.174, 95%CI=1.362-3.471), university education (OR=9.881, 95%CI=3.222-30.301) and slightly better financial status than average (OR=2.412, 95%CI=1.302-4.470). Marital status (OR=0.190, 95%CI=0.104-0.347) and no living alone (OR=0.357, 95%CI=0.165-0.773) protect from abdominal obesity. Respondents aged between 20-29 years represent a particularly vulnerable group in terms of abdominal obesity (OR=1.030, 95%CI=0.097-10.946). Conclusion The strongest associations have been found between abdominal obesity and education. Public health programs that aim to reduce abdominal obesity in women of childbearing age should mainly focus on women with university education.
Popkin B, Adair L, Nig S. Global nutrition transition and the pandemic of obesity in developing countries. Nutr Rev. 2012. p. 3–21.
2.
Kanter R, Caballero B. Global gender disparities in obesity: a review. Adv Nutr. 2012. p. 491–8.
3.
Ramsay J, Greer I, Sattar N. Obesity and reproduction. BMJ. 2006. p. 1159–62.
4.
Robker R. Evidence that obesity alters the quality of oocytes and embryos. Pathophysiology. 2008. p. 115–21.
5.
Yilmaz N, Kilic S, Kanat-Pektas M, Gulerman C, Mollamahmutoglu L. The relationship between obesity and fecundity. J Womens Health. 2009. p. 633–6.
6.
Chu S, Bachman D, Callaghan W, Whitlock E, Dietz P, Berg C, et al. Association between obesity during pregnancy and increased use of health care. N Engl J Med. 2008. p. 1444–53.
7.
Chu S, Callaghan W, Kim S, Schmid C, Lau J, England L, et al. Maternal obesity and risk of gestational diabetes mellitus. Diabetes Care. 2007. p. 2070–6.
8.
Wahrenberg H, Hertel K, Leijonhufvud B, Persson L, Toft E, Arner P. Use of waist circumference to predict insulin resistance: retrospective study. BMJ. 2005. p. 1363–4.
9.
Gallagher E, Leroith D, Karnieli E. The metabolic syndrome-from insulin resistance to obesity and diabetes. Endocrinol Metab Clin North Am. 2008. p. 559–79.
10.
Lofgren I, Herron K, Zern T, West K, Patalay M, Shachter N, et al. Waist circumference is a better predictor than body mass indeks of coronary heart disease risk in overweight premenopausal women. J Nutr. 2004. p. 1071–6.
11.
Weiss A. Cardiovascular disease in women. Prim Care. 2009. p. 73–102.
12.
Demerath E. Causes and consequences of human variation in visceral adiposity. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010. p. 1–2.
13.
Mclaren L. Socioeconomic status and obesity. Epidemiol Rev. 2007. p. 29–48.
14.
Liese A, Doring A, Hense H, Keil U. Five year changes in waist circumference, body mass index and obesity in Augsburg, Germany. Eur J Nutr. 2001. p. 282–8.
15.
Boissonnet C, Schargrodsky H, Pellegrini F, Macchia A, Marcet C, Wilson E, et al. Educational inequalities in obesity, abdominal obesity, and metabolic syndrome in seven Latin American cities: the CARMELA Study. Eur J Cardiovasc Prev Rehabil. 2011. p. 550–6.
16.
Lahmann P, Lissner L, Gullberg B, Berglund G. Sociodemographic factors associated with long-term weight gain, current body fatness and central adiposity in Swedish women. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2000. p. 685–94.
17.
Langenberg C, Hardy R, Kuh D, Brunner E, Wadsworth M. Central and total obesity in middle aged men and women in relation to lifetime socioeconomic status: evidence from a national birth cohort. J Epidemiol Commun Health. 2003. p. 816–22.
18.
Monteiro C, Moura E, Conde W, Popkin B. Socio-economic status and obesity in adult populations of developing countries: A review. Bull WHO. p. 960–6.
19.
Musaiger A. Overweight and obesity in Eastern Mediterranean region: Prevalence and possible causes. J Obes. 2011. p. 1–17.
20.
Waist circumference and waist-hip ratio: report of a WHO expert consultation. WHO; 2008.
21.
Alberti K, Zimmet P, Shaw J. Metabolic syndrome -a new world-wide definition. A consensus statement from the International Diabetes Federation. Diabet Med. 2006. p. 469–80.
22.
Aekplakorn W, Hogan M, Chongsuvivatwong V, Tatsanavivat P, Chariyalertsak S, Boonthum A, et al. Trends in obesity and associations with education and urban or rural residence in Thailand. Obesity. 2007. p. 3113–21.
23.
Maddah M, Eshraghian M, Djazayery A, Mirdamadi R. Association of body mass index with educational level in Iranian men and women. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2003. p. 819–23.
24.
Marques-Vidal P, Bochud M, Mooser V, Paccaud F, Waeber G, Vollenweider P. Prevalence of obesity and abdominal obesity in the Lausanne population. BMC Public Health. 2008. p. 330.
25.
Wang Y, Beydoun M. The obesity epidemic in the United States -gender, age, socioeconomic, racial/ ethnic, and geographic characteristics: a systematic review and meta-regression analysis. Epidemiol Rev. 2007. p. 6–28.
26.
Veghari G, Sedaghat M, Joshaghani H, Hoseini A, Niknajad F, Angizeh A, et al. The prevalence and associated factors of central obesity in Northern Iran. Iranian Cardiovascular Research Journal. 2010. p. 164–8.
27.
Galal O. The nutrition transition in Egypt: obesity, undernutrition and the food consumption context. Public Health Nutr. 2002. p. 141–8.
28.
Esmaeily H, Azimi-Nezhad M, Ghayour-Mobarhan M, Reza M, P. Association between socioeconomic factors and obesity in Iran. Pakistan Journal of Nutrition. 2009. p. 53–6.
29.
Ziraba A, Fotso J, Ochako R. Overweight and obesity in urban Africa: a problem of the rich or the poor? BMC Public Health. 2009. p. 465–73.
30.
Hosseinpanah F, Barzin M, Eskandary P, Mirmiran P, Azizi F. Trends of obesity and abdominal obesity in Tehranian adults: a cohort study. BMC Public Health; 2009. p. 426.
31.
Suliga E, Wronka I, Pawlińska-Chmara R. The prevalence and correlates of abdominal obesity in female students. Pediatr Endocrinol Diabetes Metab. 2011. p. 201–5.
32.
Kurspahić-Mujčić A, Hadžagić-Ćatibušić F, Sivić S, Hadžović E. Association between high levels of stress and risky health behavior. Med Glas (Zenica). 2014. p. 367–71.
The statements, opinions and data contained in the journal are solely those of the individual authors and contributors and not of the publisher and the editor(s). We stay neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.