[Epidemiological aspects of obesity in the workplace in Pointe-Noire, Congo-Brazzaville]

To describe the epidemiological aspects of obesity in the workplace.

This was a descriptive and cross-sectional study conducted between February and November 2017 in an oil company. The data were collected from the activity reports of its occupational medicine department.

Of the 625 subjects in the study, there were 528 (85%) men and 97 (15%) women, for a sex ratio (M/F) of 5.4. The mean age was 38.8±9.3 years. The socio-economic level was very high and the "master's" degrees were the most represented (58.1%). The incidence of obesity was 21.1% (132 workers) with 72.7% of subjects in moderate obesity. There were 104 (78.8%) obese men and 28 (21.2%) obese women. The following were significantly associated with obesity: female sex (p=0.042), meal frequency (p=0.000), snacking (p=0.000), physical inactivity (p=0.000), place of work (p=0.00028) and work stress (p=0.000). Diabetes (p=0.00023) and hypertension (p=0.00117) were significantly associated with obesity. On the other hand, no significant association was found with meal location, addictions (alcohol and tobacco), work rhythm, sedentary work habits and hypercholesterolemia.

Our study shows the extent of obesity, which is a real health problem, so far little known in the Congolese professional environment. This underlines the need to design a good obesity prevention strategy in this relatively young productive population.