Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutritional Epidemiology
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1437292
This article is part of the Research Topic Biocultural Determinants of Obesity-Related Cardiometabolic Diseases: a Holistic Anthropological Perspective View all articles

Prevalence and determinants of overweight or obesity among medical students over a two-year observation

Provisionally accepted
Szymon Szemik Szymon Szemik 1,2*Iwona Zieleń-Zynek Iwona Zieleń-Zynek 1,2Ewa Szklarek Ewa Szklarek 1,3Małgorzata Kowalska Małgorzata Kowalska 1,2
  • 1 Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland
  • 2 Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Medical Sciences in Katowice, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Silesian, Poland
  • 3 Students Scientific Association of the Department of Epidemiology, Katowice, Poland

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction University students are a special population group characterized by changes in BMI values over the subsequent years of education, with an upward tendency to BMI. The presented study aims to evaluate the prevalence of overweight and obesity and their determinants in medical students during the 2-year follow-up observation. Material and Methods We analyzed data collected from the first follow-up of the cohort study named “POLLEK” conducted among medical students at the Medical University of Silesia in Katowice. Students were followed at two points of time: in their inaugural year of studies (the academic year 2021/2022, T1, N=427), and subsequently in their second year (the academic year 2022/2023, T2, N=335). Results In the initial year of evaluation, 371 individuals (86.9%) exhibited normal body weight, 47 (11.0%) were overweight, and 9 (2.1%) were classified as obese. Subsequent assessments during the second year revealed the following distribution: 277 students (84.2%) with normal body weight, 40 (12.2%) classified as overweight, and 12 (3.6%) identified as obese. In summary, regardless of the academic year, an increased risk of being overweight or obese was significantly associated with dissatisfaction with personal health, financial strain, and a diet abundant in animal products. Conclusions The results of our study confirmed an increase in the prevalence of overweight or obesity among medical students during the 2-year follow-up observation. Significant determinants of overweight or obesity among medical students were: dissatisfaction with individual health status, male sex, financial deficiencies, and a diet abundant in meat consumption.

    Keywords: Overweight, Obesity, public health policy, Medical students, prospective study

    Received: 23 May 2024; Accepted: 12 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Szemik, Zieleń-Zynek, Szklarek and Kowalska. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Szymon Szemik, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.