Health conditions associated with overweight in climacteric women

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the association between health conditions and overweight in climacteric women assisted by primary care professionals. It is a cross-sectional study conducted with 874 women from 40 to 65 years of age, selected by probabilistic sampling between August 2014 and August 2015. In addition to the outcome variable, overweight and obesity, other variables such as sociodemographic, reproductive, clinical, eating and behavioural factors were evaluated. Descriptive analyses of the variables investigated were performed to determine their frequency distributions. Then, bivariate analyses were performed through Poisson regression. For the multivariate analyses, hierarchical Poisson regression was used to identify factors associated with overweight and obesity in the climacteric period. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 74%. Attending public school (PR: 1.30–95% CI 1.14–1.50), less schooling (PR: 1.11–95% CI 1.01–1.23), gout (PR: 1.18–95% CI 1.16–1.44), kidney disease (PR: 1.18–95% CI 1.05–1.32), metabolic syndrome (MS) (PR: 1.19–95% CI 1.05–1.34) and fat intake (PR: 1.12–95% CI 1.02–1.23) were considered risk factors for overweight. Having the first birth after 18 years of age (PR: 0.89–95% CI 0.82 to 0.97) was shown to be a protective factor for overweight and obesity. The presence of overweight and obesity is associated with sociodemographic, reproductive, clinical and eating habits.