Anthropometric Assessment of General and Central Obesity in Urban Moroccan Women

Natascia Rinaldo, Stefania Toselli, Emanuela Gualdi-Russo, Meriem Khyatti, Amina Gihbid and Luciana Zaccagni
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Natascia Rinaldo: Department of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine, Pharmacy and Prevention, University of Ferrara, Corso Ercole I d’Este 32, 44121 Ferrara, Italy
Stefania Toselli: Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Science, University of Bologna, Via Selmi 3, 40126 Bologna, Italy
Emanuela Gualdi-Russo: Department of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine, Pharmacy and Prevention, University of Ferrara, Corso Ercole I d’Este 32, 44121 Ferrara, Italy
Meriem Khyatti: Institut Pasteur du Maroc, Casablanca 20250, Morocco
Amina Gihbid: Institut Pasteur du Maroc, Casablanca 20250, Morocco
Luciana Zaccagni: Department of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine, Pharmacy and Prevention, University of Ferrara, Corso Ercole I d’Este 32, 44121 Ferrara, Italy

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 11, 1-12

Abstract: In the last few decades, North African countries have faced the nutrition transition, leading to an increase in obesity, exacerbated by an extremely low rate of physical activity (PA). Particular attention must be paid to abdominal obesity (one of the metabolic syndrome criteria), which has been linked to several health problems. The present study aims to investigate the prevalence of overweight/obesity, particularly abdominal obesity, in a sample of urban Moroccan women and to analyze the anthropometric indicators of metabolic syndrome risk among subsamples with different PA and socio-demographic characteristics. Urban Moroccan women living in Casablanca ( n = 304; mean age 37.4 ± 15.6 years) were recruited for this cross-sectional study. Data concerning socio-demographic variables, PA behavior, and anthropometric measures (height, weight, waist, and hip circumferences) were directly collected. Body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, waist-to-height ratio, and relative fat mass were computed. Comparisons between women with different socio-demographic characteristics were performed through ANCOVA adjusted for age. The results reveal that 39.4% of the women did not practice any PA. The percentage of women above the cutoffs of risk for general and central obesity was more than half for all the indexes, except for waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and 19.6% were at a very high risk of health issues. Moreover, being female unmarried, childless, graduates, and students were found to be protective against obesity. In conclusion, Moroccan women have a high level of obesity, especially abdominal, and preventive interventions are needed to reduce the health impact of obesity in this population.

Keywords: health risk; obesity; women; anthropometry; Morocco (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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