Health Status and Health Behaviors among Working Age Persons Residing in Health Region 9 (Nakhon Ratchasima, Chaiyaphum, Buriram & Surin)

Abstract

Objectives of this cross-sectional study were to examine the health status and health behaviors and to explore associations between personal factors and health status and health behaviors among 7,450 persons aged between 15-59 years who resided in health region 9 (Nakhon Ratchasima, Chaiyaphum, Buriram and Surin provinces). The sample were selected using two-stage cluster sampling with probability proportional to size from all persons aged between 15-59 years. The data were collected between September and October of 2014. The descriptive data were analyzed using frequencies, percent, means and standard deviations. The relationships between factors were analyzed using Pearson’s correlations.

The results showed that the majority of the samples were females (6,011 persons/81.2%) with average age of 42.58 years. Their body mass index (BMI) ranged from 12.23 to 47.48 with an average of 24.08 kg./m². About half of the samples had a normal BMI (53.7%) while over quarter were overweight (28.8%) and quite a few were obese (8.83%). Less than half (45.4%) of the samples had the abdominal circumference within normal range (³ 90 cm. in males and ³ 80 cm. in females). Females tended to have higher number of persons with abdominal circumference greater than the normal range than their male counterparts (52.4% among females VS 15.4% among males). The majority of the samples reported exercising regularly (62.1%), not smoking (89.4%), and not drinking alcoholic beverages (74.9%). When analyzing different between genders, it was found that female samples tended to have significantly excess abdominal circumferences and BMI than their male counterparts (p = 0.05). Males had significantly higher numbers of smokers and drinkers than those who were females (p = 0.05). It was also found that the samples who exercised regularly had significantly lower average BMIs than those who did not (p = 0.05). No significantly was found between regular exercise and abdominal circumference. 

The results from this study confirmed that it is important for health region to focus on overweight and obesity problems among working groups. Health policies in health region should focus heavily on health promoting behaviors such as exercise and physical activity among working group. Additional focus should be placed on improving knowledge about balanced diets and building supportive environments that promote exercises and physical activities. Prevention of alcohol and tobacco consumptions should also be focused equally to reduce risks factors of both diseases and traffic accidents in health region 9.