Obesity and Perceived Body Shape among Adults Attending Primary Health Care Centers in Jeddah

Background: Body image can be defined as how an individual believes, realizes and gets along with their physical appearance. The relationship between obesity and body image is complex as studies argue that the image of the body might be influenced by obesity over psychological problems, which affects the quality of an adult's life.

Aim: To identify the association between perceived body image and obesity.

Study Design: An analytical cross-sectional.

Place and Duration: the study was conducted in two primary health care centers in Jeddah City, Saudi Arabia during 2020.

Methodology: Target sample was 425 cases of Saudi adults of 20 years of age and above. Data was collected using questionnaire includes demographic characteristics, body image questionnaire. Anthropometric measurements include waist, Hip and neck circumference, and waist, height and weight were measured.

Results: men constitute 250 (58.8%) and 175 women (41.1%). Regarding marital status majority of participants were married (71.8%). The prevalence of obesity according to Body mass index was 37.6% among men and 42.9% among women, by high Waist circumference it was 68.8% among men and 84.6% women, using waist hip ratio, the prevalence among men was 64.8% and 53.7% among women. Neck circumference 57.2% among men and 53% for women. The prevalence of high Waist Hight Ratio was 89.2% among men and 86.9% for women.

Women showed higher Waist circumference underestimation compared to men. Using Body mass index men exhibited higher underestimation for obesity and women for overweight.

However, the significant associations between Perceived body image, waist height ratio and neck circumference were showed only among men. In general, obese participants are more likely to underestimate their actual body image by all obesity measurements.

Conclusion: A discrepancy was found in the PBI compared to different anthropometric measurements. Obese women are more likely to underestimate their obesity than men.