Changes in dietary habits, physical activity and status of metabolic syndrome among expatriates in Saudi Arabia

The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of living in Saudi Arabia on expatriate employees and their families' behavioural cardiovascular risk factors (BCVRFs), and to examine the association between changes in BCVRFs and metabolic syndrome (MetS). A cross-sectional study was conducted on...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEastern Mediterranean health journal Vol. 23; no. 12; pp. 836 - 844
Main Authors Alzeidan, Rasmieh A, Rabiee, Fatemeh, Mandil, Ahmed A, Hersi, Ahmad S, Ullah, Anhar A
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Alexandria World Health Organization 01.01.2017
Subjects
Acculturation
Cardiovascular diseases
Cooperation
Diet
Employees
Exercise
Expatriate employees
Fast food
Food
Food consumption
Food intake
Fruits
Health risk assessment
Health risks
Host country
Lifestyles
Medical screening
Metabolic syndrome
Migration
Obesity
Physical activity
Population
Public health
Risk analysis
Risk factors
Statistical analysis
Tobacco
Vegetables
Saudi Arabia
United Arab Emirates
Riyadh Saudi Arabia
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Summary:The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of living in Saudi Arabia on expatriate employees and their families' behavioural cardiovascular risk factors (BCVRFs), and to examine the association between changes in BCVRFs and metabolic syndrome (MetS). A cross-sectional study was conducted on 1437 individuals, aged ≥ 18 years, from King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. We used the World Health Organization STEPS questionnaire to ask every participant questions about BCVRFs twice: (1) to reflect their period of living in Saudi Arabia and (2) to shed light upon life in their country of origin. Their mean age was 40.9 (11.7) years. The prevalence of BCVRFs was as follows: tobacco use in 156 (11%), physical inactivity in 1049 (73%) low intake of fruit and vegetables in 1264 (88%) and MetS in 378 (26%). Residing in Saudi Arabia had reduced physical activity and intake of fruit and vegetables. There was also a significant increase in the fast food consumption. In conclusion, living in Saudi Arabia had a significant negative effect on BCVRFs. However, there was no statistically significant association between changes in fruit and vegetable intake and physical activity and MetS status, except that intake of fast food was lower among participants with MetS.
ISSN:1020-3397
1687-1634
DOI:10.26719/201723.12.836