Overweight and gastrointestinal symptoms among adults of working age in Iaşi City, Romania.

Unlabelled: The objectives were to determine the presence of gastrointestinal symptoms and overweight in a sample of working age adults, from Iasi city (North-East Romania) and relationship with eating habits.

Material And Methods: For this survey a sample was randomly chosen from family doctors records and 158 adults participated (65 males and 93 females, aged 19-64 years). Eating habits and food-frequency questionnaires were conducted, and Body Mass Index (BMI), waist and Body Fat Percent (FAT) were measured. For recent symptoms we used Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale (GSRS).

Results: 43.1% of male and 47.3% of female were overweight and 21.5% of male and 21.6% of female were obese. The total body fat exceeded its normal limits in 70.8% of men and in 32.3% of women. Waist was high (abdominal obesity) in 49.5% of women and in 26.2% of men. Present gastrointestinal symptoms were: reflux (23.4%), abdominal pain (8.9%), indigestion (32.9%), diarrhea (6.3%) and constipation (8.9%). Overweight or obese subjects accused reflux, indigestion (p < 0.01) and constipation (p < 0.05) more frequently than those with normal weight. Odd ratio value and 95% confidence interval for obese versus normal weighted subjects was 8.23 (2.15-37.58) for reflux and 11.65 (3.34-45.5) for indigestion.

Conclusions: Our findings up-date epidemiological data and suggest the need to promote healthy eating habits in order to reduce the tendency of obesity and to improve digestive function in population.