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Hindi Research Article
Relationships between Overweight and Obesity with Preferred Mode of Transportation and Use of Neighborhood Facilities in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
| Mohammad A Al-Ateeq1* and Manal H Al-Hargan2 | |
| 1Family Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud Bin Abdul-Aziz University for Health Sciences, National Guard Health Affairs, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia | |
| 2Department of Family Medicine and PHC, King Abdul-Aziz Medical City, National Guard Health Affairs, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia | |
| Corresponding Author : | Mohammed Al-Ateeq, Department of Family Medicine and PHC, King Abdul-Aziz Medical City National Guard Health Affairs Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Tel: +966(11)801111 E-mail: malateeq@hotmail.com |
| Received: November 14, 2014; Accepted: December 12, 2014; Published: December 19, 2014 | |
| Citation: Al-Ateeq MA, Al-Hargan MH (2014) Relationships between Overweight and Obesity with Preferred Mode of Transportation and Use of Neighborhood Facilities in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. J Obes Weight Loss Ther 4:240. doi:10.4172/2165-7904.1000240 | |
| Copyright: © 2014 Al-Ateeq MA, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. | |
Abstract
Purpose: To examine possible associations of obesity with mode of transportation to neighborhood facilities, social environment, type of work, and physical activity at neighborhood facilities and at home. Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive survey included a total of 312 respondents aged 18 years or older who attended three family medicine centers in the National Guard Hospital, Riyadh, for routine heath care from January 2012 to April 2012. The following measures were analyzed: Body Mass Index (BMI), self-reported modes of transportation to neighborhood facilities, physical activity, social environment, and socio-demographic status. Results: One-third of participants (33.7%) were overweight and just over one-third (39.2%) were obese. The majority of participants drove to work (98%), school/college (90.2%), shopping malls (95.7%), restaurants (91.5%), and social visits (84%) but walked to mosque (84.3%) and to grocery stores (50.2%). The rate of obesity was higher among participants who drove (45%) than in participants who walked (30%) to grocery store (X2=7, p=0.03). No other significant differences in rate of obesity noted for other destinations. Conclusions: Obesity rate was higher among participants who used car to reach grocery store (45%) than participants who used to walk to the grocery store (30%) (X2=7, p=0.03). No other significant differences in rates of obesity noted for other destinations. Further investigation is warranted in order to establish whether this relationship is causal.
