Wen Zhang1,2, Xi Chen1, Cunchuan Wang2,3, Lilian Gao2, Weiju Chen4, Wah Yang5,6,7,8. 1. School of Nursing, Jinan University, No. 601, Huangpu Avenue West, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. 2. Department of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, No. 613, Huangpu Avenue West, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. 3. Joint Institute of Metabolic Medicine between State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, The University of Hong Kong and Jinan University, Guangzhou, China. 4. School of Nursing, Jinan University, No. 601, Huangpu Avenue West, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. weijuchen2008@163.com. 5. Department of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, No. 613, Huangpu Avenue West, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. yangwah@qq.com. 6. Joint Institute of Metabolic Medicine between State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, The University of Hong Kong and Jinan University, Guangzhou, China. yangwah@qq.com. 7. State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. yangwah@qq.com. 8. Department of Medicine, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. yangwah@qq.com.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The incidence of overweight and obesity in rural-to-urban migrants and rural residents is increasing rapidly. This study aims to explore the perceptions and attitudes toward obesity and its management among rural-urban migrants and rural residents who are left in rural regions, China. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional survey investigating migrants and rural residents aged 18-45 in China from October to November 2020. We created a questionnaire. Two hundred five questionnaires were completed. RESULTS: Finally, 184 were included, of which 102 were migrants and 82 were non-migrants. More respondents were male (62%). There was no significant difference in BMI between the two groups. The migrants had good knowledge about obesity as a disease (75.5%) and agreed that obesity seriously threatens health (93.1%). It is worth noting that more non-migrant group believed that obesity was due to a lack of willpower (87.3% vs. 54.9%, p = 0.000) than the migrant group. More than half in both groups believed that obesity was caused by a bad lifestyle (69.6%) or addiction to food (58.7%). Half of the participants believed that biological factors caused obesity. Most participants in both groups still believed weight loss modalities were limited to exercise and diet while having extremely poor acceptance of pharmacotherapy and bariatric surgery. CONCLUSIONS: This study found that the migrants and rural residents had a good understanding of obesity as a disease, and better among migrants than rural residents. However, they showed significant uncertainty and misconceptions about the efficacy and safety of pharmacotherapy and bariatric surgery.
BACKGROUND: The incidence of overweight and obesity in rural-to-urban migrants and rural residents is increasing rapidly. This study aims to explore the perceptions and attitudes toward obesity and its management among rural-urban migrants and rural residents who are left in rural regions, China. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional survey investigating migrants and rural residents aged 18-45 in China from October to November 2020. We created a questionnaire. Two hundred five questionnaires were completed. RESULTS: Finally, 184 were included, of which 102 were migrants and 82 were non-migrants. More respondents were male (62%). There was no significant difference in BMI between the two groups. The migrants had good knowledge about obesity as a disease (75.5%) and agreed that obesity seriously threatens health (93.1%). It is worth noting that more non-migrant group believed that obesity was due to a lack of willpower (87.3% vs. 54.9%, p = 0.000) than the migrant group. More than half in both groups believed that obesity was caused by a bad lifestyle (69.6%) or addiction to food (58.7%). Half of the participants believed that biological factors caused obesity. Most participants in both groups still believed weight loss modalities were limited to exercise and diet while having extremely poor acceptance of pharmacotherapy and bariatric surgery. CONCLUSIONS: This study found that the migrants and rural residents had a good understanding of obesity as a disease, and better among migrants than rural residents. However, they showed significant uncertainty and misconceptions about the efficacy and safety of pharmacotherapy and bariatric surgery.