Premium
Spatial characteristics of BMI among women in Kurdistan, Iraq
Author(s) -
Curtin Kevin M.,
Pawloski Lisa,
Rasheed Taban K.,
Ahmad Hamdia
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.27.1_supplement.1055.12
Subject(s) - overweight , anthropometry , demography , geography , obesity , sample (material) , spatial analysis , body mass index , cluster analysis , population , gerontology , environmental health , medicine , cartography , statistics , sociology , pathology , chemistry , remote sensing , mathematics , archaeology , chromatography
Objective To describe the spatial patterns concerning BMI among women living in Kurdistan, Iraq. Methods Anthropometric and geographic data were collected by the researchers from a sample of 1023 women working and/or studying at the University of Salahhadin in Erbil, Iraq in the spring of 2010. Spatial relationships were examined concerning BMI. These relationships included spatial statistical measures of clustering of the segments of the sample, in addition to inspection of location of significant clusters. Results 44% were found to be either overweight or obese. The spatial statistics further support the findings revealing spatial patterns of obesity and home location. There was strong evidence that high BMI values (obese women) exhibit spatial clustering. Conclusions The findings are significant in that no such analyses have been conducted in Kurdistan concerning the nutritional status of women, nor have they been conducted using geographic methods. Further, this study suggests the need for further geographic analyses concerning the potential factors which influence nutritional status in this population. This research was supported by the Center for Global Studies, and the Provost's Office, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA.