Obesity and overweight in a sample of women at child bearing age in Baghdad City

Abstract EN

Obesity is a chronic disease defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a condition of abnormal or excessive fat accumulation, to the extent that health may be impaired .

This excess fat mass is thought to lead to increased risk of ill such as metabolic and cardiovascular disease, , decreased physical function, and some cancers .

The aims of this study are To determine rate of overweight among sample of women at the childbearing age, and To find the relationship between the body mass index and some variables.

A cross-sectional study conducted in Al- washash & Bab-almoadham primary health centers, sampling was (convenient ) & the sample size was 506.

Data was collected by questionnaire to obtain socio- demographic information & weight and height of each women was measured by the researcher.

About 66.2% of the studied sample of women was in the age (20-29) years.

And the 58.5 % were housewife , about 54 % of women in the sample were overweight while obesity rate was 1.4% only.

About 63.3% of the sample with normal weight were mainly non contraceptive users.

Analysis of results by chi-square test show that ( types of contraceptive, family history of obesity, socio economic status, parity, birth space interval, types of food) was significant factors associated with body mass index.