PREVALENCE AND RISK FACTORS OF OVERWEIGHT/OBESITY AMONG FEMALE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN TABUK, SAUDI ARABIA 2022

Background:Obesity and overweight are accompanied with several different chronic diseases. Both can be measured by using body mass index (BMI) and is also used widely as an index of relative adiposityamong any population.

Objectives:To estimate the prevalence and contributing risk factors of overweight and obesity amongfemale university students in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia 2022 .

Methods: Cross-sectional study the analysis was undertaken from a representative sample (N = 256) of the Tabuk University females. Anthropometric measurements including, height (in meters),and weight (in kilograms) of the subjects were undertaken by means of standard apparatus. SPSS 23.0 was utilizedfor statistical analysis of the data.

Results:Majority of respondents (59.77%) were of healthy weight (BMI of mean ±SD = 22.81±5.04). About 31.58% of the married participants were overweight and 5.26% of them were obese. While 8.03% single participants were obese and 16.46% of them were overweight. The average hours the participant spends in regular physical activity has significant reflection (p=0.048) on the participants` weight status. None of the participants who spend more than three hours daily in regular activity were obese and only 8.33% of them were overweight.As the number of sleeping hours decrease, there was higher risk for the participant to gain weight.There was a direct impact of frequency of unhealthyfood on the body weight status of the participants.

Conclusions:The associated factors of obesity-overweight prevalence in females of the university are potentially preventable and modifiable. The regional barriers to lifestylemodifications and interventions to encourage active lifestyles,to limit the occurrenceof obesity and ultimately promote health and wellbeing, are warranted. Furthermore, prospective studies areneeded in future to confirm the etiological nature of such associations.