Burden of Obesity in Sedentary Jobs

Introduction: Obesity is a disease that adversely affects mortality, morbidity, and quality of life (QOL), as a result of its associated complications, like cardiometabolic, mechanical and lifestyle based. The health risks include diabetes, cardiovascular disease (CVD), hypertension, dyslipidemia, sleep apnea, musculoskeletal disease, infertility, and dementia. Moderate weight loss (5-10%) has been associated with improvements in these obesity-related comorbidities. Objectives: With an aim to estimate the frequency of overweight and obesity in the adult population with sedentary life style, a camp was organized at a private firm to screen the employees. Materials and methods: A total of 218 individuals were selected for analysis. Height, weight, pulse, blood pressure (BP), waist circumference, and body mass index (BMI) were measured. Plasma fasting sugar and fasting serum lipid profile were analyzed. Results: The frequency of normal BMI in the study population was found to be 27.5%. The total frequency of overweight subjects was 48.6% and that of obese subjects was 23.9%. The raised BMI could be significantly associated with high blood pressure, waist circumference, diet and exercise as well as glycemic status. All lipid parameters except HDL depicted significant odds ratio (OR) and thus predicted the risk factor for obesity. Conclusion: Obesity has assumed an epidemic proportion and necessary intervention are important to prevent morbidity and mortality.