Obesity and its comorbidities in relation to sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics of adults in San Luis, 2016

Abstract

The prevalence of obesity is influenced by biological, psychosocial, and behavioral factors. It also acts as a common risk factor for other chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and heart disease. We aimed to determine the association of individual, sociodemographic, and lifestyle characteristics, with the development of these pathologies.

An observational-populational and cross-sectional study in 306 individuals aged >18 years from San Luis. Sociodemographic characteristics were investigated, such as age, sex, educational level (low, medium, high), socioeconomic level (SES: low, medium, high); and lifestyle characteristics, such as physical activity level (METs/day), dietary intake (kcalories/day) and anthropometric dimensions (weight, height). Obesity was diagnosed according to body mass index (BMI>30 kg/m2). The presence of self-reported chronic conditions associated with obesity (diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and heart disease) was also investigated. Multiple logistic regression models were fitted, including sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics as covariates, and the presence of each chronic condition separately and then together, as response variables.

26.8% of the participants had obesity and/or some associated chronic pathology (17.32% obesity, 3% diabetes, 11% hypertension, 3.27% dyslipidemia, and 13% heart disease). A medium level of education increased the chance of presenting heart diseases, compared to individuals with a high level of education (OR 5.3; p=0.03). Likewise, a low level of education was positively associated with the presence of obesity (OR 3.58; p=0.04), an association that was repeated in the rest of the comorbidities (p<0.05). On the other hand, the possibility of presenting diabetes increased by 17% as BMI increased (p=0.01). Age was positively associated with the pathologies studied, except for diabetes (dyslipidemia: OR 1.08 p<0.001, heart disease: OR 3.4; p<0.001; hypertension: OR 1.1; p<0.001; obesity: OR 1.02; p=0.004. Women were 3 times more likely to have hypertension and heart disease (p=0.04; and p=0.03, respectively). Daily energy intake, physical activity level, and SES were not associated with these pathologies.

Our results evidenced that medium-low levels of education facilitate the development of obesity and its comorbidities. The lifestyle characteristics studied showed no association with chronic pathologies.