A cross sectional survey on health and nutritional status among the people of Chittagong city corporation, Bangladesh

Purpose: To determine the health and nutritional status of people in the Chittagong city corporation area of Bangladesh. Materials and methods: A face-to-face interview methodology was used for this survey. The study sites were located in 15 thanas of the Chittagong city corporation area. The study was also designed with interview questions closely related to health. Results: Among the total 620 respondents, 453 respondents were males and 167 respondents were females. 471(75.96%) of the total respondents had positive comments about the health status of their community. 169(27.52%) respondents had poor or fair appetites but the rest of them had good, very good or excellent appetites. 360(58.07%) of the respondents reported they had been eating a minimum of one fruit per day and 85(13.7%) people drank 5 to 8 glasses of water daily. 441(71.12%) of their diets more or less met daily vitamin and nutrient requirements and 338(54.51%) were nonsmokers. 407(65.64%) were married, and 388 (62.58%) were more or less satisfied about their sexual life. 441(71.12%) respondents performed physical exercise more or less habitually. A lower number of respondents had a major disease. For instance, 155(25%) suffered from high blood pressure, and 150(24.19%) suffered from diabetes. In the case of minor diseases, 399(64.35%) of the respondents had been suffering from GIT disease and 416(67.09%) were taking proton pump inhibitors or a H2 receptor blockers. 205(33.06%) respondents were taking antibiotics regularly. Conclusions: One third of the people had hypertension and diabetes. According to the biomedical concepts, peoples were not healthy. However, according to the ecological and psychological concepts of health, this survey proved that the people of the Chittagong city corporation area were comparatively healthy. Key words: health, nutritional status, Chittagong city, survey, respondents