Generalized Traditional Risk Factors of Being Overweight and Obesity among Ever Married Non-Pregnant Women in Bangladesh: An Application of Decision Tree Analysis

Abstract

Background: As the prevalence of obesity increases, the co-existing underweight and increasing overweight has also become a public health problem in many developing countries like as Bangladesh. Therefore this study seeks to identify the major determinants factors of being overweight or obese.
 Methods: This study used a cross-sectional analysis from the 2011 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey that include 2,740 maternal women. To assess the determinants factors of overweight and obese, a multivariate technique name as decision tree analysis was used in this study.
 Results: Around 68% of the maternal women were underweight and 32% were either overweight or obese. Women higher socio-economic status, women age ≥25 years, higher educational level and urban place of residence were found to be most dominant factors of being overweight and obese.
 Conclusion: The findings suggest that, the major policy implications of this study are the importance of socio-economic status women, age ≥25 years with higher educational level and urban women to minimize its adverse effect on overweight and obese.