Prevalence of Obesity Among Teachers Employed Within City Town of Kayseri Provinence

Purpose: This research was conducted in order to determine the prevalence of obesity amongteachers in central district of Kayseri province. Material and Method: A cluster sample set of 1600 teachers employed at primary and secondary schools in central district of Kayseri province was planned to be taken into scope of the research. Height and weight were measured by the researcher. BMI was calculated from measured values. The-Chi-square and Student t-test were used for statistical analysis and p 0.05 was considered as significant. Results: 59.9% of participants were male and 40.1% were female. Of the participants, 46.1% were overweight, 10.8% were obese. Prevalence of overweight and obesity was found to be 56.9%. Conclusions: The prevalence of obesity has been found high for teachers, who should be aware of harms of obesity, and be role-models for students. Eventhough the prevalence of obesity was found to be higher in women on general population, higher prevalence in men in this study was attributed to that women form a higher educated group. Similarly, comparative studies conducted with other profession groups and with general population are necessitated.