Lifestyle of workers from Bucaramanga, Colombia and its metropolitan area, and its association with overweight

Introduction: Behavioral risk factors such as physical inactivity, smoking and inadequate diet promote the onset of overweight and increase the risk of non-communicable diseases. Objective: To evaluate behavioral risk factors and their association with overweight in workers from Bucaramanga and its metropolitan area. Materials and methods: Analytical cross-sectional study in workers from different productive sectors. A survey on socio-demographic, food, smoking and physical activity variables was conducted. A body mass index of ≥25 kg/m2 was considered as overweight. Results: A total of 258 workers were analyzed; 56.98% were women and the median age was 34 years. The prevalence of overweight was 48.06%, and an association with the following factors was found: male sex (prevalence ratio PR 1.38, p=0.006); age ≥35 years (PR 1.41, p=0.012) and monthly income ≥$1,600,000 Colombian pesos (PR 1.37, p=0.010). Conclusions: In economically active population, overweight was more frequent among males, in people aged ≥35 years and in those with higher monthly wage income. However, further studies are needed to confirm these findings.