Abstract:
Background: According to WHO, more than 1 in 3 adults globally were overweight and
more than 1 in 10 were obese in 2014. Obesity and overweight are risk factors for
cardiovascular diseases among many other diseases. Obesity and overweight has been
noted as two of the most prevalent risk factors for NCDs in the Maldives. It has been
established that sedentary lifestyles affects weight and waist circumference of people.
Hence, the purpose of this study was to find the relationship between obesity and type of
occupation among civil servants of Male’ Maldives.
Method: This was a descriptive cross sectional study among two hundred and seventeen
administrative officers, one hundred and one teachers and fifty one nurses from the civil
servants of Male’. The dietary and physically active habitat at work and home were
measured with the help of a self-administered questionnaire. Obesity (based on body mass
index) and fat deposits (based on waist circumference (WC)) were defined using WHO
criteria.
Result: The results show that there was no significant relationship between obesity and
occupations and neither with most of the explanatory variables selected for this study. Only
9 participants have more than 80 cm of waist circumference. And 5 participants have more
than 30 units of BMI among the 92 participants. This study however, highlighted risk
factors such as high carb diet, smoking, disease conditions and lack of exercise that could
lead to obesity among civil servants and a slightly significant association between obesity
and physical activity.
Implications: Due to the small sample size, this study could not identify a relationship
between the type of occupation and obesity. But notable number of participants had a waist
circumference between 76-80cm, hence it is recommended to raise awareness especially for
people working in deskbound jobs. Findings from this study points to the importance of
designing work environments to avoid physical inactivity. High risk working populations
and larger samples covering more categories of civil service employment beyond the civil
service needs to be targeted in further studies. Future research needs to target.
