3. Abdul-Rahim,H.F., Abu-Rmeileh,N.M., Husseini,A., Holmboe-Ottesen,G., Jervell,J., and Bjertness,E. Obesity and selected co-morbidities in an urban Palestinian population. International Journal of Obesity 2001; 25,11:1736-40.

This paper assesses the prevalence of obesity and central obesity in an urban Palestinian population and their associations with selected co-morbidities, including diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidaemia. Men and women aged 30-65 y residing in a Palestinian urban community; excluding pregnant women were the targeted population. According to WHO guidelines, obesity for men and women was defined as BMI> or =30 kg x m(-2), while pre-obesity was defined as BMI 25-29.9 kg x m(-2). Central obesity was defined as a waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) of >0.90 in men and >0.85 in women. The prevalence of obesity in this population was high at 41% (49% and 30% in women and men, respectively). Central obesity was more prevalent among men (59% compared to 25% in women). After adjusting for the effects of age, sex, smoking and each other, obesity and central obesity were found to be significantly associated with diabetes, low HDL-cholesterol and elevated triglycerides in separate logistic regression analyses. Central obesity was also significantly associated with hypertension (OR 2.26, 95% CI 1.30-3.91).