Prevalence of weight status and associated factors of underweight among the medical students in Iran

Background: Increasing weight abnormalities among university students is a challenging problem around the world. Published studies most researched overweight/obesity and its contributing variables in this population. However, underweight can threat health and wellbeing of the students during academic period. The Objective of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of weight status and to explore associated factors of underweight among the students from Yasuj University of Medical Sciences. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, a random sample including 455 students were recruited from Yasuj University of Medical Sciences, Iran, during 2018-2019. Academic, socio-demographic and anthropometric characteristics of the students were gathered through a structured questionnaire. Body mass index was determined and classified according to the World Health Organization reference. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize data in numbers and percentages. The relationships of students’ characteristics with their weight status were checked using Chi-square test. Factors associated with underweight occurrence in students were detected by analyzing multiple binary logistic regression model and adjusted odds ratio. Result: Of the total participated students 87.5% were 19-24 years old and 66.2% were female. The mean ± standard deviation of students’ weight and BMI were 61.42±11.51and 22.14±3.36, respectively. The prevalence of underweight, normal weight and overweight/obesity among students were 15%, 66.15 and 18.9%, respectively. Among the considered variables, age (OR: 0.78 95% CI: 0.63,0.97), gender (OR:2.o8 95% CI: 1.o8, 3.99), number of educational term (OR:1.25, 95% CI: 1.06, 1.47) and father’s occupation (Or:2.13 95% CI:1.14, 3.99) were significantly associated with the underweight occurrence in students. Conclusion. The prevalence of underweight and overweight/obesity among studied university students were high. The younger students, female students, students at higher number of educational term and students with fathers not an employee were at higher risk of being underweight. Suitable programs to promote healthy diets and practices among university students must be provided.