Obesity and Its Interrelation with Other Risk Factors in Turkish Adults

lnterrelation between six other risk factors and obesity was investigated by the use of data obtained in a cross-sectional population-based study of 3689 subjects 20 years of age or over. Obesity was defined as a body mass index (BMI) of ? 30 kg/m2 in both genders. Prevailing in 42 % of Turkish women and 16 % of men 40-59 years of age, obesity interacted with avariety of risk factors. The relation between BMI and plasma total cholesterol level was significant in young subjects alone, and that of plasma triglyceride in young and middle-aged participants. Both the systolic and the diastolic blood pressure rose significantly with a rise in BMI in women and young men. As compared to other men, obese men tended less to smoke and more to quit when they smoked, whereas obese Turkish women appeared to keep their smoking habit to a more advanced age. The prevalance of diabetes among obese women was almost threefold of that of nonabese women. Except for men in age group 50-59 years, the relative weight did not seem to be affected by physical activity. Though obesity did not represent a coronary risk factor in Turkish men, it constituted in women a significant risk factor valid for all adult ages and having an etiologic fraction on the community level equivalent to that of hypertension.