The prevalence of overweight, obesity and central obesity in six regions of Croatia: results from the Croatian Adult Health Survey [Prevalencija prekomjerne tjelesne težine, debljine i avdominalne debljine u šest regija Hrvatske]

Our aim was to estimate the prevalence of overweight, obesity and increased waist circumference in the adult population of Croatia and investigate regional differences in six regions of Croatia. Using the data from the 2003 Croatian Adult Health Survey we estimated the overall prevalence of overweight, obesity and increased waist circumference for the entire population of Croatia at 38.11%, 20.34% and 43.52%, respectively. For men, this was 43.2%, 20.1% and 34.98% and for women 33.6%, 20.6% and 51.13%, respectively for the three indicators of increased body weight. We found conflicting evidence as to whether the Mediterranean part of the country, compared with the continental part, bears a lesser degree of cardiovascular risk. Planners should pay particular attention to the Northern region, where the burden of increased body weight was the highest

Paving the Way for Personalised Behaviourally based Prevention of Obesity: Systematic Search of the Literature

We have identified in the literature variants in 64 genes that may be involved in gene-obesity-behaviour interactions. Personalisation of behaviourally based preventive approaches against obesity seems feasible, however obesity genomics is still in the discovery phase of translational research and abundant replication studies are needed before these largely pioneering findings can be extended to practice and population impact. Automation of search algorithms and development of more efficient tools for knowledge synthesis of genomic research into gene-obesity-behaviour interactions might facilitate the advent of widely available personalised prevention approaches. Our future efforts shall therefore concentrate on developing such tools, as well as a research repository dedicated to the use of public health genomics for obesity control

Prevalence and five-year cumulative incidence of abdominal obesity in Croatian women of childbearing age: the CroHort study [Prevalencija i petogodišnja kumulativna incidencija abdominalne pretilosti u žena fertilne dobi u Hrvatskoj]

Generalised obesity is increasing in prevalence globally, however trends in abdominal obesity are less well known. In 2003, 1,999 women of childbearing age participated in the Croatian Adult Health Survey, of whom 598 (29.9%) participated in the second cycle in 2008. For 2008, the prevalence of abdominal obesity using the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) criterion (waist circumference > or = 80 cm) was estimated at 70.3% (95% CI 61.8% to 75.7%), whereas the prevalence of abdominal obesity using the National Cholesterol Education Program, Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATP III) criterion (waist circumference > or = 88 cm) was estimated at 48.6% (42.6% to 54.7%). The preceding five-year cumulative incidence was 54.3% (44.5% to 64.2%) and 35.2% (28.0% to 42.4%) using the IDF and NCEP ATP III criteria, respectively. The burden of abdominal obesity is high and rapidly increasing in Croatian women of childbearing age, the key population subgroup for obesity control