Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity in Royal Thai Army Personnel(cid:31)
Phunphen Napradit MSc*, Pannee Pantaewan MSc**, Nongpimol Nimit-arnun PhD**, Dangjai Souvannakitti MD*, Ram Rangsin MD, DrPH***
Affiliation : (cid:31) This manuscript was presented as poster presentation in the 33th Annual Phramongkutklao Conference at Phramongkutklao College of Medicine on 23-25 November 2005 * Department of Physiology, Phramongkutklao College of Medicine ** Department of Community Health Nursing, Royal Thai Army Nursing College ***Department of Military and Community Medicine, Phramongkutklao College of Medicine
Objective : Determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the Royal Thai Army (RTA) personnel.
Materials and Methods : A cross-sectional study was performed on 4,276 RTA personnel aged 20-60 years
between January and July 2005. They were interviewed for general health status, history of smoking, alcohol
consumption, and physical activity. Blood pressure, weight, height, waist, and hip circumference were mea-
sured.
Result: The prevalence of overweight and obesity in RTA personnel were 27.1% and 4.9% respectively. The
mean value of age, weight, body mass index, waist, and hip circumference, waist hip ratio, blood pressure in
overweight, and obese personnel were significantly higher than those of non-overweight personnel. Logistic
regression analysis showed that significant risks of being overweight were positively associated with age,
male, and working in a combat unit. Current smoking was inversely associated with overweight and obesity,
whereas physical activity > 3 times/wk was inversely associated with obesity. Overweight and obesity were
also associated with hypertension.
Conclusion : These baseline data are useful for future trends monitoring and may be used for health promotion
planning to prevent obesity in RTA personnel.
Keywords : Overweight, Obesity, Army personnel, Body mass index
