JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

According to WHO prevalence of overweight is reported as 70.9% in females and 70.5% in males while the prevalence of obesity is reported as 41.2% in females and 31.6% in males in UAE. There is a paralleled rise in the incidence of related metabolic conditions, particularly type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). However, BMI itself doesn’t provide any information on body fat distribution, which may be more closely related to metabolic risk than BMI itself. Waist circumference is simple method in clinic practice to assess the abdominal adiposity. Waist circumference is strongly associated with cardiovascular mortality. Therefore, waist circumference should be used in conjunction with BMI to assess the metabolic risk according to World Health Organization report.

Objective:

To study the prevalence of obesity related diseases in a multidisciplinary weight management program and determine the relationship to obesity anthropometric indices.

Methods:

This is a cross-sectional study conducted at Mediclinic Parkview Hospital in Dubai, UAE. 308 patients have been evaluated from January 2019 until September 2019 as part of a multi-disciplinary weight management program. Key demographics, anthropometrics, and clinical data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences software version 25 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL).

Results:

308 patients included. 103 (33%) males, 205 (67%) females from 38 nationalities. The mean age was 41 years (±9.6) with a median BMI of 34.5 (±6.7) and 33.7 (±7.8) for males and females respectively. Mean waist circumference was 113.4 cm (±23.3) and 103.5 cm (±16.2), fat percent was 33.7% (±11.6) and 45 (±6.8), fat mass was 41 kg (±15.2) and 41.1 (±14.1), and visceral fat was 6.5 kg (±3.2) and 3.1 (±1.8), for males and females respectively. BMI strongly correlated with waist circumference (male; female, r=0.67; r=0.72) and visceral fat (male; female, r=0.89; r=0.78). Furthermore, waist circumference was significantly associated with risk of diabetes, hypertension, and NAFLD.

Conclusions:

BMI and waist circumference are the most representative measure of obesity in our population and correlate with abdominal adiposity and obesity related diseases. Further studies will play a part in assessing the benefit of these measures during weight reduction interventions.