Governing levels of physical activities in obese adults

Introduction: Obesity is recognized as a multifactorial disease resulting from an interplay between genetic factors and lifestyle influences including physical activity habits. Purpose: The aim of this study is to evaluate the physical activity levels (PALs) of obese adults with an easy, practical and cost-efficient method which can be use in policlinics, compare these results with normal adults and argue that ?the PALs of obese subjects are lower than those of controls?, determine the socio-demographic features and obesity related risk factors with the results and to guide an appropriate exercise programs. Materials and Methods: Total of 71 volunteered adults(mean age 43.3±11.0), 60 female and 11 male, participated the study whom applied to Dokuz Eylül University, Internal Medicine Department of Endocrinology on March 2006. 40 of them included in study, 31 of them were control group by Body- Mass Index (BMI). The subjects were questioned about their age, sex, level of education, profession, marital status, background, family history, disease story, menopause, hormone replacement therapy (HRT), medication, smoking cigarette and alcohol consumption. PALs were assessed with International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). The statistical program package utilized was SPSS 14 for Windows. Results: There were no significant correlation between the age, sex and marital status of study and the control group (p>0.05). The degree of education and the number of working subjects in study group were less than the control group(p<0.05) Hearth diseases, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, sleep apnea syndrome, osteoarthritis, stress incontinence and drug usage determined significantly higher in obesity group (p<0.05). There were no significant difference between two groups menopause, osteoporosis, having treated with HRT, smoking cigarette and alcohol consumption (p>0.05). Obese subjects waist circumferences, hip circumferences and the waist/hip ratios(WHR) were significantly greater than the control groups (p<0.05). The total PALs of obese group was 405.1 ± 417.9 MET, control group was 1011.5±916.1 MET (p=0.000). It was seen that obese subjects are more inactive than normal adults (relatively 82.5 % and 29.0 %). Conclusion: The PALs of obese subjects were significantly lower than control group (p<0.05). Assessing PALs and risk factors were inevitable for governing the exercise programs of obese subjects. IPAQ is an easy, fast and cost-efficient PAL evaluation method. Keywords: Obesity, Physical Activity Level, International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ)