Prevalence of obesity and abdominal obesity in a sample of users of an Integrated Medicine Ambulatory

Abstract

Obesity is a progressively prevalent clinical condition increasingly associated with mortality and morbidity from cardiovascular diseases. Visceral fat accumulation worsens such risk and for that reason measuring the waist circumference as a way for evidencing Abdominal Obesity is considered as necessary and important as calculating the Body Mass Index (BMI). The objective of this study is to determine the prevalence of obesity and abdominal obesity and associate them with cardiovascular risk factors. A sample of patients, users of an Integrated Medicine Ambulatory, was analyzed as to age, sex, BMI, waist circumference and clinical conditions such as arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus type 2, metabolic syndrome (MS), tobacco use and sedentary lifestyle. Patients who already had their waist circumference measured or BMI calculated were selected from the sample, so that 119 patients actually entered the study. Their age mean was 50±13,4 years, 89% were females. The prevalence of obesity and abdominal obesity was 44% and 66% respectively. Both obesity and abdominal obesity were associated with MS (p=0,01, OR=3,42; p=0,0005, OR=7,55) and with each other (p<0,0001, OR=22,1). Circumference measurement was a diagnostic test for MS presenting sensitivity (89.5%) and a good negative prediction value (80%) in our patients. The prevalence of obesity and abdominal obesity was high in this sample. Obesity and abdominal obesity are associated with MS. These data confirm circumference measurement as an important diagnostic tool in the clinical practice.