anthropometric risk predictors of cardiometabolic disorders among farmers

original article   change in the form of doing the task in some occupations such as farming has led to overweight and obesity as a threatening factor for farmer's health. this study aimed to compare the anthropometric indices of obesity and fatness as the predictors of cardiometabolic disorders among rural farmers in the northern part of iran. this cross-sectional study was carried out in 2012 on subjects whose first or second jobs were farming, aged over 18 yrs and lived in babol city, northern iran. the anthropometric indices in this study included body mass index (bmi), waist circumference (wc), waist-to-hip ratio (whr) and conicity index (ci). among 300 studies farmers, 66.7% suffered from overweight and obesity, in which female farmers were more frequent than male farmers (p<0.05). farmers aged over 55 yrs had the highest frequency of overweight (46.5%), and those between 45-55 yrs had the highest frequency of obesity (26.7%). according to wc, whr, and ci, 78.3%, 84.3%, and 84.6% of the studied farmers were at risk of cardiometabolic disorders, and their adverse effects, respectively and these problem were more probable in females. chi-square test illustrated a significant relationship between age, wc, and ci. the educational level had not a significant relationship with any of the anthropometric indices. although obesity is a risk factor for cardiometabolic disorders in both sexes, the issue mentioned in females and old age needs much more attention. therefore, further investigations and interventional measures are necessary in order to prevent overweight and obesity among farmers.