Assessment of the prevalence of central and general obesity among female students of Velenjak dormitory of Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran

Background: Prevalence of obesity is increasing globally , and it is proved that obesity is associated with cordiovascular diseases, type II diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia and breast cancer. This study was carried out among 150 female students of Shadid Beheshti university who were resided in Velekjad dormitory, in order to assess the rate of obesity among them. Methods: As a cross-sectional study; height, weight, waist circumference and hip circumference were measured . Food frequency and socioeconomic questionnaire were completed. BMI and WHR were used to assess the general and central obesity respectively. Results: Mean± standard deviation of age, BMI, WHR, WC were 260 ± 31 (months), 21.42 ± 2.56 (kg/m 2), 0.79 ± 0.04 and 75.71 ± 7.10 (cm) respectively. Among subjects, 40.5 had WHR more than 0.8, 9.3 were overweight, 62.1 normal and 28.6 underweight. Of whom, 37.8 weren't exercising at all. There was a negative correlation between BMI and consumption of butter, milk, meat (p<0.001 for all) and egg (p<0.01), between WHR and consumption of egg and butter (p<0.01 for both of them) and also between WC and cosumption of butter (P<0.001) and milk (P<0.01). Conclusion: Although prevalence of general obesity among the subjects was low, central obesity (based on WHR) was significant, so lifestyle modifications such as nutritional changes and increase physical activity among students is recommended