Factors influencing waist circumference among urban bank employees in Northeast Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study

Woynshet Yimer ¹ Lakew Asmare ^2* Fikre Bayu Gebeyehu ³ Tihtna Alemu ⁴ Anisa Mehamed ² Fanos Yeshanew ¹

• ¹ Department of Dietetics and Nutrition, School of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Amhara Region, Ethiopia
• ² Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Science, Wollo University, Dessie, Ethiopia
• ³ School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
• ⁴ Department of Surgical Nursing, School of Nursing, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Amhara Region, Ethiopia

Introduction: One well-known public health issue affecting people worldwide is central obesity. Numerous chronic illnesses, such as type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, and malignancies, are linked to this syndrome. There is little information available about waist circumference and related variables among urban bank workers in Ethiopia. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate waist circumference and characteristics related to it. Methods: Institutional-based cross-sectional study was carried out in Dessie, Eastern Ethiopia between October 02 and October 24, 2023. A random selection approach was employed among 363 bank workers. STATA version 17 was used for analysis after imported into Epi-data. Univariate and multivariate linear regression was performed. Normality, homoscedasticity, significant outliers, and multicollinearity were verified, and a p-value of less than 0.05 with a 95% confidence interval was designated as the level of significance. Results: A total of 345 participants were included in the study. The overall mean ± standard deviation of waist circumference in men and women were 81.7 ± 6.8 cm, 82.4 ± 6.5 cm, and 80.7 ± 7.2 cm, respectively. The prevalence of central obesity overall for men and women was 57.7%, 48.2%, and 70.3%, respectively. The overall mean ± SD of Waist to Hip Ratio (WHR) was 0.90 ± 0.05, which was 0.91 ± 0.04 in men and 0.89 ± 0.05 in women. Average waist circumference was significantly associated with the age of the participant (0.2cm per year (SE: 0.1) and METs-hrs. (0.2 cm (SE: 0.1), mean waist circumference was 2.7 cm ((SE:0.8), higher in married women, 4.6 cm (SE:1.9), higher among participants with NCDs, and 1.7 cm (SE:0.8), higher among participants who took discretionary calories for =4 days/week. Conclusion: Waist circumference of bank employees was higher, which resulted in more than half of the participants having central obesity. Age, marital status, discretionary calorie intake, non-communicable diseases, and metabolic equivalence task hours were significant variables with waist circumference. Therefore, promoting non-communicable disease prevention targeted activities such as leisure time physical activity and reducing discretionary calorie intake are essential to reducing higher waist circumference measurements. Keywords: Waist circumference, Central obesity, factors influencing, Eastern Ethiopia