ISMJ

Background: Overweight and obesity are risk factors for many non-communicable diseases. The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence and 6-year incidence of obesity and overweight in adults through the prospective study of the Persian Gulf Healthy Heart Study. Materials and Methods: In the first phase of the study which was started from 2003, totally 3735 people aged 25 years and more from Bushehr, Genaveh and Deylam cities participated. In the second phase which was conducted in 2009, 1856 people (49.7%) of them were investigated again. Demographic data and the information about obesity and overweight were collected through personal interview. The crude prevalence of obesity and overweight and the age and gender adjusted rates were calculated by using direct standardization method for both phases of the study. Results: Crude prevalence of obesity in the first and second phases of the study were 26.5 % (25%-27.8%) and 30.5% (28.4%-32.7%), respectively. The crude prevalence of overweight in two phases of the study were 39.8% (38.2%-41.3%) and 43.4% (41.1%-45.7%), respectively. The standardized prevalence of obesity in two phases of the study were 27.2% (25.8%-28.6%) and 29.6% (27.4%- 31.8%) respectively and the standardized prevalence of overweight were 40% (38.4%-41.6%) and 42.8% (40.3%-45.31%), respectively. The 6 year incidence rate of obesity and overweight were 9.12% (7.13%-11.46%) and 29.81% (24.86%-35.13%) in men and 13.96% (11.35%-16.92%) and 29.18% (23.43%-35.47%) in women, respectively. Conclusion: The incidence and prevalence of overweight and obesity in Bushehr province is significantly high. It is recommended to conduct more studies to determine the contributing factors and ways of controlling this trend and also to prevent the related diseases in future.