TITLE:
Assessment of public awareness about body measurements among Fayoum population
AUTHORS:
Naglaa A. El-Sherbiny, Mohamed A. Mashahit, Rania E. Sheir
KEYWORDS:
Obesity; Body Image; Community Awareness
JOURNAL NAME:
Health,
Vol.6 No.3,
February
8,
2014
ABSTRACT: The prevalence of obesity is increasing world-wide.
There was general agreement that BMI surveillance was an epidemiologic tool
for the assessment of obesity in different populations. The aim of this study
is to screen community awareness about body measurement, and to examine actual
body weight with self-perception of body image. Methods: This study was a community-based survey conducted in
Fayoum Governorate. We used multistage stratified random sampling to select
the study household with a number of participants (582). We developed a
self-administrated structured questionnaire. Anthropometric assessment
weight, height and waist circumference were measured, and BMI was calculated. Results: Our results showed that the
prevalence of obesity was 88.7% more in female than male. More than half of the
participants knew their weight and height. Overall, 40.6% of women and 38.8%
of men misclassified their own weight status by BMI. There was a statistical significant difference between knowing weight and height, and their accurate results (P = 0.000). Conclusion: Our results showed that
the majority of the Fayoum population was obese. Implementation of health
promotion and health education in the community should use effective nutrition
education in the mass-media to raise awareness of appropriate body weight and
healthy lifestyle.