Fast Food Consumption, Overweight and Obesity among Working Age Persons in Cambodia
LC01-LC06
Correspondence
Dr. Wongsa Laohasiriwong,
Faculty of Public Health, Research and Training Center for Enhancing Quality of Life for Working Age People, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand.
E-mail: drwongsa@gmail.com
Introduction: Overweight and obesity is an emerging public health concern in developing countries. Some studies reported fast food consumption as one of the major risk factors of overweight and obesity.
Aim: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of fast food consumption and its association with overweight and obesity among working age persons in Phnom Penh capital city of Cambodia.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 749 working age persons aged 18-59 years who were selected from 12 communes from 5 districts in Phnom Penh capital city of Cambodia by applying multistage random sampling method. Then, the respondents were requested to response to a structured questionnaire interview and anthropometric measurement. Overweight, Body Mass Index (BMI =23.00-24.99 kg/m2) and obesity (BMI=25.00 kg/m2), the main outcome variables was determined by using World Health Organisation (WHO, 2000) for Asian cut-off points. Multiple logistic regressions was performed to determine the association between fast food consumption and overweight as well as obesity status while controlling other covariates and presenting adjusted odds ratio (OR adj.) with 95% Confident Interval (CI) and p-value.
Results: Of the total 749 respondents, 50.20% were female with a mean age of 32.26±11.12 years. As high as 62.75%; 95% CI: (59.28%-66.22%) consumed fast food during the past one month. The prevalence of overweight and obese population was 38.72% (95% CI: 35.22%-42.21%). Fast food consumption was significantly associated with overweight and obesity (OR adj.=2.00; 95% CI: 1.39-2.88; p<0.001). Other significant covariates were; male gender (OR adj.=1.53; 95%CI: 1.06-2.20; p=0.020, adults aged 31-59 years (OR adj.=3.02; 95%CI: 1.98-4.62; p<0.001, married (OR adj.=1.69; 95%CI: 1.12-2.54; p=0.012, had family history of overweight and obesity (OR adj.=1.50; 95%CI: 1.01-2.22; p=0.043, drank alcohol (OR adj.=1.60; 95%CI: 1.10-2.31; p=0.013) and had hypertension (OR adj.=2.14; 95%CI: 1.45-3.19; p<0.001).
Conclusion: Fast food consumption and over-nutrition are significant problem in Cambodia. Majority of adults aged 31-59 years are overweight as well as obese. So, identifying factors influencing fast food consumption and over-nutrition as well as developing evidence-based approaches to address these problems will help in advancing prevention and management of fast food consumption. It will also reduce over-nutrition in an appropriate manner.