Prevalence and determinants of obesity and abdominal obesity among rural workers in Southeastern Brazil

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to assess the nutritional status of rural workers from a municipality in Southeastern Brazil and estimate the association of sociodemographic, labor, lifestyle, and dietary pattern factors with obesity and abdominal obesity of men and women of this rural area. This is a cross-sectional, epidemiological study of 740 farmers (51.5%, n = 381 males; 48.5%, n = 359 females). The sociodemographic, labor, lifestyle and dietary patterns determinants were assessed. Food intake data were obtained by applying three 24-hour recalls and dietary patterns were determined by Principal Component Analysis with Varimax orthogonal rotation. Poisson regression with robust variance stratified by sex was applied. The general prevalence of overweight status was 31.5% (95% CI 28.2–34.8%), 19.7% of obesity (95% CI 16.8–22.6%) and 31.5% of abdominal obesity (95% CI 28.2–34.8%), with higher rates in women (P < 0.001). Men of higher socioeconomic class had a 2.3 times higher prevalence of obesity (95% CI 1.08–4.90). In addition, the shorter travel time to purchase food increased the prevalence of abdominal obesity in males. For women, the older the age group, the greater the general and central obesity. A lower adherence to traditional dietary patterns (approximately PR [prevalence ratio] 1.6 for general obesity and PR 1.3 for abdominal obesity) and a greater number of places to buy food were associated with higher rates of obesity in women. Finally, women farmers with a higher workload had a 20% lower prevalence of central obesity (PR 0.80; 95% CI 0.65–0.97). Such findings demonstrate that obesity must be an issue in the health care of remote and rural populations. There is a need to promote healthier environments that respect traditional food culture through multiple approaches that consider the heterogeneity of rural areas and the differences between sexes.

Obesity prevalence, physical activity, and dietary practices among adults in Saudi Arabia

“…Our investigations revealed that obesity is more widespread in women than men, which conforms with the results of prior investigations ( 20 , 31 , 32 ). Women are more obese for a variety of reasons, including their parity and biological factors such as hormonal shifts and usage of contraceptive pills ( 33 ), the less physical effort required in their employment, more household work, less spare time, and imbalance of excessive calorie intake and insufficient activities ( 11 , 31 , 34 , 35 ).…”

“…Our overweight and obesity prevalence results corroborate with Saudi, Iraqi, and Brazilian studies ( 4 , 20 , 21 ). However, Iraqi and Brazilian studies have reported a lower incidence of underweight individuals, 1.5% and 3.6%, respectively ( 20 , 21 ), while a Saudi survey reported a much higher incidence of 21.7% ( 4 ). Several KSA studies have shown the varying prevalence of obesity and overweight ( 7 , 22 , 23 ).…”

Cut Points of the Conicity Index and Associated Factors in Brazilian Rural Workers

“…With regard to our findings, as per the IDF and NCEP classification, reducing the consumption of culinary ingredients increases the risk of high abdominal fat by 1.66-fold and 1.57-fold, respectively. This finding is in line with the literature since other studies, including a study carried out with this same population, found that lower adherence to traditional dietary patterns is associated with a higher prevalence of both general obesity and abdominal obesity [ 11 , 35 , 36 , 37 ]. Historically, the food pattern of rural populations consists of the consumption of rice, beans, cassava flour, coffee, cow’s milk and bread, but in recent years there has been an increase in the consumption of traditional industrialized products in urban areas, which highlights a new scenario with the influence of globalization [ 26 , 38 , 39 , 40 ].…”

“…The role of obesity as a potential metabolic risk factor is already well defined in the literature [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. In a recent study with Brazilian farmers, weight was assessed from the body mass index (BMI) and was found to be higher than the general population [ 11 ]. It is known that BMI is an anthropometric indicator widely used to categorize nutritional status, however, it is limited by the fact that it does not provide the distribution of body fat [ 12 , 13 , 14 ].…”

“…The performance of the conicity index as an indicator of abdominal obesity from the MetS components has been demonstrated in numerous studies, but there is still no consensus on the cut points, which vary according to population, sex and age [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ]. Until then, no cut point has been determined for this index in the Brazilian rural population, which justifies the importance of the present study.…”