Obesity and overweight disparities in Turkey

Introduction: Obesity epidemic affects Turkey as well as World. Defining the determinants of obesity identifies effective intervention points for this epidemic. Method: In this study, data was obtained by cross-sectional study conducted nationwide in the scope of “Obesity Prevention and Control Program of Turkey (2010-2014)”. 1906 persons are covered in face-to-face survey. For evaluation of factors influencing the frequencies of obesity (BMI≥30 kg/m2) and overweight (BMI≥25 kg/m2), logistic regression models were built. Findings: Obesity frequency is 25.2%. There is no significant difference in the sense of obesity between income groups (p>0.05). Obesity frequency is higher in increasing age groups, in women (OR:1.52 (CI:1.21-1.91)), in urban (OR:1.87 (CI:1.35-2.59)), in people having no formal education (OR:2.59 (CI:1.54-4.33)), in primary school graduates (OR:1.56 (CI:1.10-2.25)) with respect to university graduates (p<0.001). Overweight frequency is 60.6%. There is no significant difference in overweight frequency between income groups and gender (p>0.05). Overweight frequency is higher in increasing age groups, in urban (OR:1.94 (CI:1.49-2.53)), in people having no formal education (OR:1.83 (CI:1.08-3.12)), in primary school graduates with respect to university graduates (OR:1.61 (CI:1.18-2.21)) (p<0.001). Conclusion: In Turkey experienced heavy immigration to urban areas in recent past, people living in urban and groups with low education were identified as most influenced groups by obesity epidemic. The fact women are disadvantageous groups in terms of obesity frequency while there is no significantly difference in terms of overweight between women and men shows that epidemic influences women more heavily. Health promotion programs focusing on obesity fighting should take these characteristics into consideration.