Association Between Obesity and Cigarette Smoking: A Community-Based Study

Background: Cigarettes smoking and obesity are major public health problems and leading causes of preventable morbidity and mortality worldwide. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between cigarettes smoking and body weight status among Northern Saudi subjects. Methods: Data were collected during cross-sectional survey which included 5,000 Saudi selected from 30 primary health care centers (PHCs) in Hail Region. Results: The overall prevalence of obesity in Hail was 36.9%. The prevalence of cigarettes smoking was 10.2%. In those who are current smokers, obesity was present in 24.9%, normal weight in 30.9% and overweight in 7.4%. In those who are ex-smokers, obesity was present in 45.0%, normal weight in 20.3% and overweight in 31.3%. In those who never smoked, obesity was present in 27.6%, normal weight in 32.8% and overweight in 37.3%. Conclusion: Obesity was most prevalent among ex-smokers and least prevalent among current smokers. It is clear that from the analyses, the group of current smokers were less likely to be obese in comparison with never smokers and ex-smokers were more likely to be obese than both current smokers and never smokers.