The Awareness of Abdominal Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome in Healthcare Workers

Abstract

Background: In a study that has been done five years ago, it was reported that too few of healthcare workers were aware of abdominal obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetS) as a clinical entity. The aim of this study was to evaluate if any difference in abdominal obesity and MetS awareness in healthcare staff working in the same hospitals was occurred in the past 5 years. Methods: A total of 731 healthcare workers (physicians: 262, nurses: 199, other healthcare staff: 270, mean age: 32.17 +/- 8.0) were enrolled. Demographic, anthropometric, and biochemical data were recorded. International Diabetes Federation (IDF) criteria were used for abdominal obesity and MetS assessment. Results: The frequency of abdominal obesity and awareness of abdominal obesity was 32.5% (36.6% in women, 29.7% in men, P = 0.050) and 16.7% (18.7% in physicians, 9.6% in nurses, 3.8% in other healthcare staff, P = 0.001) respectively. The awareness of MetS as a clinical entity was 31.3% (78.6% in physicians, 11.1% in nurses, 0.4% in other healthcare staff, P = 0.001). The frequency of MetS was 6.1% (3.7% in women, 10% in men, P = 0.015). Conclusions: In this research, it has been found out that for the past five years, still very few of the healthcare workers are aware of the MetS and abdominal obesity as a clinical entity.