The Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity Among Women in Jordan: A Risk Factor for Developing Chronic Diseases

OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to investigate the prevalence of obesity among Jordanian women and its association with a wide range of chronic diseases. METHODS: Subjects were enrolled in the present cross-sectional study based on a random drop-off technique at the Obstetrics and Gynecology clinics at Jordan University Hospital. Initially, any female 18 years of age and older was asked to enroll in the study. Relevant data were gathered using a questionnaire composed of 30 questions, and body mass index (BMI) was determined from each participant’s weight and height. The following variables were collected: socio-demographic, chronic diseases, and health status. Each variable’s frequencies were reported, and the 95% confidence interval (95% CI) for each variable was calculated. For association analysis, Chi-square analysis was performed with an odds ratio (OR) and 95% CI. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was applied to a combination of independent variables and a dependent condition with covariate factors. RESULTS: The age-standardized prevalence of overweight/obese Jordanian women was 70.6% (95% CI 66.0–74.8%). On the other hand, the age-standardized prevalence of only obese women was 36.4 (95% Cl 31.9–41.2%). Furthermore, the association between age and overweight/obesity was significant (p<0.0001). The percentage of overweight and obesity started to be significant in the 30–39 year age group. Moreover, the OR for obesity ranged from 2.7 to 7.0 (p<0.05–0.01) for those women with only elementary education. Besides, high parity was significantly associated with obesity and elementary education. For chronic conditions, the percentages of hypertension, diabetes, hypertriglyceridemia, osteoporosis, and rheumatoid arthritis were significantly correlated with increased BMI in Jordanian women. With age adjustment, however, only hypertension was associated with obese level 3 with OR of 7.2 and 95% CI of 2.1–25.1 (p<0.01). CONCLUSION: There is a high prevalence of overweight/obesity among women in Jordan, which was related to high parity and low education level. This high prevalence of obesity increased the incidence of chronic diseases, such as hypertension. Therefore, community-based multiple strategies are required to combat obesity in Jordanian women.