The prevalence of metabolically healthy obesity and healthy status and related risk factors among Iranian adults: a cohort-based cross-sectional study.

Objectives: this study aims to determine the prevalence and determinants of metabolically healthy obesity (MHO) and metabolically healthy status (MHS) within a large Iranian population.

Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 10,134 participants from the Fasa Adult Cohort Study (FACS) in southern Iran. Following the extraction of metabolic, demographic, and socioeconomic variables, prevalence rates were estimated. Logistic regression analysis was conducted using SPSS 22 to examine the relationship between risk factors.

Results: Among all participants, 19.9% (32.7% in men) exhibited metabolically healthy status (MHS), while 31.4% (37.5% in men) were classified as metabolically healthy obese (MHO). The likelihood of MHO was found to be 18% higher in illiterate individuals compared to their literate counterparts. Additionally, for each 1 cm increase in waist circumference, the probability of MHO increased by 5%, while a 1-year increase in age raised the probability by 1.7%, and a 1 MET increase in physical activity reduced the probability by 1.3%. Furthermore, the likelihood of having MHS was 2.4 times greater in women than in men. Employed individuals had a 17% lower probability of MHS compared to unemployed individuals. For every 1 MET increase in physical activity, the probability of MHS decreased by 0.9%, whereas a 1-year increase in age and a 1 cm increase in waist circumference increased the probability by 1.7% and 12%, respectively.

Conclusions: It seems that MHS and MHO is relatively high in studied population and although their multifactorial nature was determined, at the same time, in order to evaluate the changes, it is necessary to pay serious attention to longitudinal monitoring.

Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40200-024-01555-8.