Prevalence of Obesity and Overweight among Female Nurse Students, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia

Aims: The aims of the study to estimate the prevalence of obesity and overweight among females’ students to adopt strategies to combat these problems and decrease their risk.

Study design: A cross-sectional study design.

Methodology: It was conducted among 129 participants at Um Al-Qura University collage of nursing, 2017. Stratified proportional random sampling was adopted, structured questionnaire and checklist for body height and weight were used to collect data. Agreement from each participant was taken and then written consent was obtained. The data was analyzed used SPSS version 20. A descriptive statistic was done, BMI was calculated to estimate the prevalence and Chi Square test for statistically significant was used.

Results: Shown that the prevalence of overweight and obesity were 9.0% for each and insignificant (P=Value 0.266) similar among age groups.

The study included 129 females, 51% at age group of 22-25 years and 88% with moderate family income. Also, a high significant obesity 10%, was found among single, while overweight was a high among married participants 45% (P value= 0.002). Addition to high insignificant obesity associated with high family income (P value=0.450).

Conclusions: The study explored that the prevalence of both overweight and obesity were high and similar among participants age groups, and strongly associated with many risk factors which should be considering a serious health problem that need specific attention from the community and health sectors.