Assessment of some behavioral risk factors for the development of overweight and obesity in young people

Abstract

Background. Global trends in recent years are associated with an increase in the proportion of young people who are overweight and obese, that is why studying the prevalence of physical development disorders and assessing risk factors are necessary for the development of preventive measures.
 Aim. Assessment of the prevalence and likelihood of developing overweight and obesity in working and studying youth depending on certain lifestyle factors.
 Material and methods. An anthropometric examination was carried out on 513 young men and 1465 young women (average age 21.3±0.09 and 21.2±0.05 years, respectively) living in the Yaroslavl region. Among men and women, people of different social status were identified: working and studying young men (average age 22.9±0.12 and 20.3±0.08 years; p=0.0001) working and studying young women (average age 22.9 ±0.07 and 20.3±0.04 years; p=0.0001). The questionnaire method was used to determine the lifestyle characteristics of young people (drinking alcohol, smoking, irregular physical activity, sleep and eating disorders). Comparison of independent groups was performed using the Wald–Wolfowitz and Mann–Whitney tests, the presence of differences between proportions was performed using the χ2 criterion, and predictors were assessed using the odds ratio.
 Results. Overweight was found in 23.2% of males and 11.5% of females (p=0.0001), 23.5% of working men and 23.0% of male students (p=0.897), 10.5% of working women and 12.0% female students (p=0.364). Obesity was noted in 7.8% of men and 4.0% of women (p=0.0001), 7.0% of working males and 8.3% of male students (p=0.591), 6.6% of working females and 2.7% female students (p=0.0001). Among the lifestyle factors studied, the chances of developing overweight and obesity increased only among female students due to smoking (2.26 times, p=0.002).
 Conclusion. The frequency of overweight and obesity among Yaroslavl young men is 2 times higher than among young women; among young men of different social status, the distribution of youth by body mass index did not differ; among working females, obesity was more common than among students; the chances of developing overweight and obesity among female students who smoked were higher compared to female students who did not smoke.