An Investigation about Anthropometric Indicator for Inhabitants of Zanjan in Comparison with NCHS Standards

Background and Objective: Anthropometry is the most common way for measuring body growth in human which today is raised as a predictive indicator in epidemiologic, metabolic and appearing illness related to obesity as well. Materials and Methods: The research is part of a study named" a Healthy Heart" had been carried out among people of Zanjan in 2003 with cross-sectional research design. About 1821 people of Zanjan inhabitants above 15- year-old participated using multi-stages random cluster sampling method. Questionnaire consisted of personal information and anthropometric indicators which the results then compared with standard charts of NCHS. Results: The average of the weight in men and women was respectively 68.7 ± 12.5 and 61.7 ± 11.8 kg, and average of the height was 170 ± 7 and 156 ± 7 cm respectively. The average of the BMI index men and women was 23.73 and 25.4 ± 4.9 kg/m2 respectively. 32.8% of participants were overweight and 12.5% were obese. 27.7% of women and 10.7% of men had abdominal obesity (P less-than 0/05). Positive and significant relation was observed between BMI and age (R=.36), BMI and marital status(R=.39) .A reverse and significant relation was observed between BMI and education level (R= -.18). Conclusion: According to the findings of this study which reveals that considerable amount of women affected by abdominal obesity, paying attention to life style especially womens in all age groups is proposed.