141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

282166
Obesity and overweight disparities in Turkey

Monday, November 4, 2013

Hakan Tüzün , Department of Health Promotion, Ministry of Health of Turkey, Ankara, Turkey
Kagan Karakaya , Department of Health Promotion, Ministry of Health of Turkey, Ankara, Turkey
Mustafa Erata , Department of Health Promotion, Ministry of Health of Turkey, Ankara, Turkey
İnci Arıkan , Department of Health Promotion, Ministry of Health of Turkey, Ankara, Turkey
Emine Baran , Department of Health Promotion, Ministry of Health of Turkey, Ankara, Turkey
Levent Göçmen , Department of Health Promotion, Ministry of Health of Turkey, Ankara, Turkey
Harika Kökalan-Yeşil , Department of Health Promotion, Ministry of Health of Turkey, Ankara, 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.

Learning Areas:
Epidemiology

Learning Objectives:
Identifying obesity and overweight disparities by the study based on “Obesity Prevention and Control Program of Turkey (2010-2014)”

Keywords: Obesity, Health Disparities

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been Head of Health Promotion Department since it was established in Ministry of Health. From the beginning I have tried to evaluate health issues in the scope of health promotion. Obesity and health disparities are taken into account as both public health problems and health promotion issue. As a team, we conducted a study. We want to use these data to identify major health issues and design health promotion programs.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.