The lifestyle habits and wellbeing of physicians in Bahrain: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

BackgroundLifestyle habits of physicians are of paramount importance both because they influence the physician’s own health and because these habits have been shown to affect patients’ care. There is limited information on physician health and lifestyle habits in Bahrain.MethodsIn a cross-sectional study design, an anonymous self-administered questionnaire that assesses wellbeing and lifestyle habits was distributed to a random sample of 175 out of 320 primary health care physicians in Bahrain. Descriptive analyses were performed, and the variables were cross-tabulated using SPSS version 20.0.Results152 physicians agreed to participate in the study. Respondents were 67.1 % female with a mean age of 45 (SD = 10). The majority were of Bahraini nationality. The most prevalent reported health conditions were hyperlipidaemia (25.5 %), hypertension (20.3 %), and diabetes (11.0 %). Only 29.6 % of physicians reported performing ≥ 30 min of exercise in a usual week. Of physicians exercising ≥ 30 min weekly, only 13 % exercised ≥ 5 days weekly. 98.0 % report never drinking, 1.3 % report previously drinking, and 0.7 % report drinking less than once weekly. The average body mass index (BMI) was 27.8 (SD = 5), with 39 % of physicians being overweight and 33 % obese. BMI was directly associated with sleep time (P0.027, r2 = 0.034), age (P < 0.01, r2 = 0.179), male gender (P = 0.031, r2 = 0.054), and a known diagnosis of hypertension (P = 0.007, r2 = 0.079) or hyperlipidaemia (P = 0.008, r2 = 0.088).ConclusionsThere is a clear pattern of unfavourable lifestyle habits and obesity among primary health care physicians in Bahrain. We encourage institutions and public health sectors to be more proactive in assisting physicians to attain healthier lifestyles.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-015-1969-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

One-day workshop-based training improves physical activity prescription knowledge in Latin American physicians: a pre-test post-test study

“…Therefore, physically active MDs appear to have more knowledge about exercise prescription. We and others have identified the strong link between personal PA behaviors and PA counseling practices [39–42]. The findings in the present study also seem to provide support to this theory driven by the fact that one of the main barriers MDs face is not feeling confident enough to give PA recommendations in an intellectual as well as a practical level.…”

“…In contrast, 51% of participating MDs were overweight or obese and the average sitting time was 5.6 ± 3.5 h/day, both of which are important independent risk factors for increased cardio metabolic risk and all-cause mortality [38]. In some previous studies, MDs have reported moderate to high physical inactivity rates, with similar prevalence of chronic disease and obesity as the overall population [39]. The most recent data in Colombia shows prevalence of abdominal obesity of 62% in women and 39,8% in men [35].…”

Overweight and obesity among adults in the Gulf States: A systematic literature review of correlates of weight, weight‐related behaviours, and interventions

“…First, the results of the 84 eligible correlate studies are described, followed by the data on the seven intervention studies …”

“…All correlate studies were cross‐sectional, except for one longitudinal study . Half of the studies were performed in Saudi Arabia, and a large number were performed in Kuwait .…”

“…Recent studies have also investigated sleep in relation to weight/obesity in the Gulf States. Obesity was significantly associated with sleep disturbances and short sleep duration …”