Study assesses women's health in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.

2004 AUG 5 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- An evaluation of women's health in on area of the United Arab Emirates, Al Ain, revealed the need to address obesity and general health improvement in postmenopausal women there.

A.O. Carter and colleagues, University of the West Indies, wanted "to determine the reproductive and lifestyle characteristics in a representative sample of women . . . to guide the development of health programs for this population with rising affluence. A cross-sectional survey was carried out using the stratified two-stage sampling technique."

They found that "[a]lthough most women were young, premenopausal, did not smoke, and reported good health status, and 84% (95% confidence interval [CI] 81-87%) reported being sufficiently active to meet expert recommendations, the prevalence of obesity (defined by body mass index greater than or equal to30) was very high (35%; 95% CI 31-39%), and many (28%; 95% CI 24-32%) reported having a chronic disease."

Carter's team reported, "The prevalence of obesity was associated positively with age and negatively with education (p

Postmenopausal women fared worse. They "had significantly more chronic diseases, reported poor health ...