Prevalence and influencing factors of overweight and obesity among adult residents in regions along the Yangtze River in Anhui province

Objective To investigate the prevalence and relevant factors of obesity among adult residents in areas along the Yangtze River in Anhui province and to provide references for the prevention and control of obesity.Methods A questionnaire survey and body measurements were conducted among 7 365 permanent residents aged ≥18 years selected with multistage random cluster sampling from 3 municipalities located along the Yangtze River in Anhui province during April to October 2014.The overweight and obesity were defined based on body mass index (BMI) and abdominal obesity based on waist circumference.Multivariate unconditional logistic regression and test were adopted in data analyses.Results Among the 7 183(97.5%)participants with eligible information,the overall overweight and obesity rate were 27.8%and 6.5%and the rate of abdominal obesity was 36.9%among the obese participants.The results of logistic regression showed that alcohol drinking was a risk factor and being single and with higher education were protective factors of overweight and obesity;alcohol drinking,aged>65 years,married,female gender,and living in rural area were risk factors and being single and with higher education were protective factors of abdominal obesity.Conclusion The prevalence of abdominal obesity is relative high and mainly influenced by age,gender,living area,alcohol drinking,education,and marital status among the adult residents in areas along the Yangtze River in Anhui province.