Objective: To find the prevalence of obesity and overweight in the population of Albacete, and their relationship to other cardiovascular and coronary risk factors.
Design: A descriptive, crossover population study.
Setting: Community setting in the province of Albacete.
Participants: A sample of 2121 people over 18 (843 from the capital and 1278 from the rest of the province) was selected from Albacete's population through stratified random sampling in two stages.
Measurements and results: Appointments were made with each person by mail. All those attending underwent Anamnesis, a physical examination, ECG and basic analytic tests. 1230 people between 20 and 93 years old were studied. 394 were considered not obese (32%) and 836 were adjudged obese or overweight (68%). 47% of men were overweight and 23.2% of them obese; 33.5% of women were overweight and 32.5% obese.
Conclusions: Obesity is a highly prevalent pathology in this province and increases with age. Overweight is more common among men and obesity among women. Hypertension, Hyperlipaemia, Diabetes and high Fibrinogen are more prevalent in obese than in non-obese patients and increase in prevalence along with the obesity. Patients with the risk factors under study are generally obese. The coronary risk calculated was higher among the obese, the risk increasing along with excess of weight.