IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i8p4381-d539861.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Obesity among Health-Care Workers: Which Occupations Are at Higher Risk of Being Obese?

Author

Listed:
  • Muhammad Syafiq Kunyahamu

    (Department of Community Medicine, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia Health Campus, Kota Bharu 16150, Kelantan, Malaysia)

  • Aziah Daud

    (Department of Community Medicine, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia Health Campus, Kota Bharu 16150, Kelantan, Malaysia)

  • Nazirah Jusoh

    (Pahang Health State Department, Jalan IM 4, Bandar Indera Mahkota, Kuantan 25582, Pahang, Malaysia)

Abstract

Obesity among health-care workers (HCWs) is an important issue as it can affect both their health condition and their professional capability. Although adult obesity is attributable to occupational factors, few reports are available on Malaysian health-care workers’ obesity and whether different health-care job categories are related to workers’ obesity. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of obesity among HCWs and the association between various HCW job categories and obesity. A cross-sectional study was conducted by analyzing secondary data from the 2019 annual cardiovascular health screening program, which included information regarding all government health-care workers in the east coast region of Peninsular Malaysia. The subject’s body mass index (BMI) was categorized according to WHO criteria. Only 43% of the subjects had a normal BMI, while 33.1% were categorized as overweight, and 21.1% were obese. Different HCWs’ job categories were shown to be significantly associated with their obesity status, with nurses apparently having a higher risk of being obese (Adj OR = 1.91, 95% CI 1.45, 2.53, p -value < 0.001). This study’s results require further exploration of HCWs’ working condition factors and for different job categories that contribute to obesity. Public health intervention programs to combat obesity should be implemented that primarily target HCW groups at the highest risk of obesity.

Suggested Citation

  • Muhammad Syafiq Kunyahamu & Aziah Daud & Nazirah Jusoh, 2021. "Obesity among Health-Care Workers: Which Occupations Are at Higher Risk of Being Obese?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-8, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:8:p:4381-:d:539861
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/8/4381/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/8/4381/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bernarda Sánchez-Jiménez & Reyna Sámano & Daniela Chinchilla-Ochoa & Rosa Morales-Hernández & Ana Rodríguez-Ventura, 2018. "Demographics and Psychological Factors Associated with Adiposity in Nurses," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-7, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gabriela Chico-Barba & Karime Jiménez-Limas & Bernarda Sánchez-Jiménez & Reyna Sámano & Ana Lilia Rodríguez-Ventura & Rafael Castillo-Pérez & Maricruz Tolentino, 2019. "Burnout and Metabolic Syndrome in Female Nurses: An Observational Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-11, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:8:p:4381-:d:539861. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.