Percezione Del Rischio E Parametri Biologici Correlati All’obesita’ In Una Popolazione Campione Della Città Di Roma.

[Autom. eng. transl.] INTRODUCTION Obesity is one of the main public health problems both because it is considered a risk factor for the onset of chronic diseases and because it is constantly growing. The main causes of the increased incidence of this condition are to be found in changes in the diet and lifestyle of the last 50 years. The purpose of this study is to conduct a survey on eating habits and lifestyle in a sample of patients belonging to the General Practitioner to learn about their needs and plan effective intervention strategies to modify important health determinants. MATERIALS A questionnaire was used that collects information on the anthropometric and health characteristics, the eating habits and the socio-demographic characteristics of the studied sample. The questionnaire was distributed in February 2015 in the Clinic of the Torresina neighborhood in Rome. The data collected was processed using "Stata IC 9.2 for Mac". RESULTS The sample consists of 150 individuals (average age 43 years). The average BMI is 26.7. The mean arterial pressure is 131/80 mmHg. Eating habits confirm the adoption of a Mediterranean-type diet. In Linear Regression analysis the BMI is weakly associated with the level of education (β = -1.7; p = 0.001) and with income (β = 1.19; p = 0.039). Furthermore, to Spearman's correlation analysis, the BMI correlates with the quality of the information source on proper nutrition (rho = 0.56; p≤0.000). CONCLUSIONS The results of this study show that insufficient and reliable information on a correct diet correlates negatively with the risk of being overweight and therefore of developing related multifactorial pathologies. The role of the general practitioner and the community nurse could be crucial for prevention.