Prevalence of Obesity among Type 2 Diabetic Patients: Non-Smokers Housewives Are the Most Affected in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Introduction: During last two decades there has been dramatic increase in obesity rates all over the globe including Saudi Arabia. This trend was associated with increasing incidence of diabetes type 2. Moderate weight loss and exercise among adults can prevent or delay type 2 diabetes. Identification of the high-risk groups for developing obesity among diabetics will help in targeting those groups in prevention, education and treatment programs. Methods: The number of diabetic patients registered in 40 primary health care centers in Jeddah Governorate accounted for about 22 000 patients. According to BMI patients were categorized into four groups: Normal if BMI is less than 25, overweight 25- less than 30, mild obesity 30- less than 35 and severe obesity 35 and more. Prevalence of obesity was related to patients' gender, age, smoking, educational level and job. Results: A total of 723 diabetics were randomly selected. Males to females' ratio were almost equal (50.8% and 49.2% respectively). The mean BMI of group was 29.3 ± 6.1. Only (21.9%) of the diabetics could be categorized as being within normal range. The remaining was almost equally categorized as overweight or obese. More than one third (38.3%) were obese; 22.4% had mild obesity, and 15.9% severe obesity. Ratio of severely obese females were almost triple that of males. The housewives were the least to have normal BMI ratio (15.2%). According to calculated BMI we found that being a non smoker housewife is the significant predicting factor for being obese P < 0.05. Conclusion: Prevention and educational program should identify and target those diabetics who are at high risk of developing obesity.