Doha: Qatar plays a significant role in promoting a healthy community at both physical and psychological levels and Qatar National Sport Day plays an important role to that end.
Such community and government initiatives will help reduce the rate of obesity, especially among the young population, according to a senior research investigator.
Although the rate of obesity is high among the community, fortunately, Qatar has made many improvements, built infrastructures and started initiatives that motivate people to be more active, including cycle tracks, stadiums and public transportation, said Dr. Annalisa Terranegra, Investigator in Precision Health at Sidra Medicine.
“The celebration of National Sport Day is a crucial initiative to reach this goal. Current research, as well as initiatives from the community, and most importantly from the government, will hopefully raise awareness about the importance of physical activity. We hope that through participation and awareness, it will reduce the incidence of obesity in Qatar,” she told The Peninsula.
Dr. Terranegra is currently working on a study, in collaboration with HMC and Qatar Biobank, on the risk factors associated with obesity.
“Our data confirmed the high burden of obesity in the Qatari population, with 38 per cent of the adult population obese with an average BMI of 28.7. The data is based on the Qatari population from the previous 5-10 years from data gathered by the Qatar Biobank,” she said.
“The study targeted Qataris from an age range of 18-65 years, with a median age of 40 showcasing obesity. This indicates a quite young population affected by obesity. Unfortunately, we also observed a similar trend in our pediatric population, with 40 percent of obese patients in our study. The alarming numbers are aligned with low or zero physical activity frequency and poor lifestyle habits,” she added.
According to Dr. Terranegra, obesity is also one of the major risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD). The study found that obese people at higher risk of CVD exercise less and spend less time in physical activity (both moderate and high impact). “The data was extracted from a multidisciplinary study where we aim to deeply phenotype each single patient, looking at their genetic risk factors, dietary habits and intestinal microflora composition,” said Dr. Terranegra.
“The final goal is to provide a precision medicine approach to diseases – both in terms of care, treatment and encouraging lifestyle changes, where each single patient will be treated as per his own risk factors. In this specific case, each obese subject can be recommended to improve physical activity and dietary habits, according to the individual’s specific genetic traits and lifestyle which can be coupled with specific treatments, such as probiotics and food supplements,” said Dr. Terranegra.
