Obesity awareness among elders living in rural area: a household survey

This study aimed to verify obesity awareness of elders living in rural areas and associated socioeconomic and demographic factors. We conducted a cross-sectional household survey with 562 individuals, who were older than 60 years and were rural residents from a Brazil southeast city. The identification of obesity awareness was consisted in the agreement between the self-referred obesity and the diagnosis criteria using the body-mass index>27Kg/m2. The associated socioeconomic and demographic factors were: gender, age range, marital status, education and income. Descriptive statistical analysis, Kappa index and logistic regression (p<0.05) were conducted. The highest percentage of elders were men (53.6%), 60 ├ 70 years old (62.6%), married (67.8%), studied for 4|-8 years (40.0%) and with an individual monthly income of one minimal wage (45.7%). The prevalence of obesity according to the body-mass index was 34.7% and the self-referred 15.1%, which was classified as regular agreement by the Kappa coefficient (k= 0.232; p<0.001). The majority of the elders with obesity were not aware of this condition (64.6%), with higher odds ratio for men than for women (OR=2.34; CI=1.29-4.77). We found high obesity prevalence among elders residents in the rural area, who did not recognize themselves with this condition. Moreover, elderly men presented lower obesity awareness than women.Resumo A aceita ção do agravo é essencial para o autocuidado, infere-se que o autorreconhecime...
Source: Revista Brasileira de Cineantropometria e Desempenho Humano - Category: Sports Medicine Source Type: research