Prevalence and factors associated with underweight, overweight and obesity among 15-49-year-old men and women in Timor-Leste

Abstract

Background Underweight and overweight both have a long-lasting significant effect on human health at the individual and population levels. However, in the context of Timor-Leste, a country that achieved independence around two decades ago, there is a severe scarcity of evidence regarding the underweight and obesity burden. We conducted this study to find out the prevalence of underweight, overweight and obesity and their associated factors. Methods This study used the nationally representative data of Timor-Leste Demographic Health Survey 2016 data. We conducted descriptive analysis followed by multivariable logistic regression analysis to find out the prevalence and investigate the associated factors. Both crude and adjusted odds ratio of covariates were reported with 95% confidence interval (CI). Results This study analyzed the data from a weighted sample of 16,488 Timorese aged 15–49 years. The prevalence of normal weight, underweight, and overweight or obesity were found to be 55.2% (95% CI: 54.2%-56.2%), 25.5% (95% CI: 24.4%-26.7%), and 19.3% (95% CI: 18.3%-20.3%), respectively. For underweight, age, sex, type of settlement (urban/rural), township, and wealth, marital, and educational status were found to have a statistically significant relationship (p < 0.05) with Body Mass Index(BMI). After adjustment for the covariates in the logistic regression model age, sex, township, and wealth and marital status were found to be statistically significant correlates (p < .05) of underweight. For overweight and obesity, all the background characteristics included in this study (i.e, age, sex, type of settlement, township, and wealth, marital, and educational status) were found to be statistically significant correlates, after adjustment for the covariates. Conclusion This study concludes that Timor-Leste has a significant underweight and overweight burden which needs to be addressed through appropriate interventions. Further studies are also warranted to delve deeper into the complex interplay of factors associated with underweight and overweight. © 2022 Chakraborty et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.