Predictors of dietary supplement use among female health workers in Tehran

Journal of Diabetes & Metabolic Disorders volume 12, Article number: 26 (2013) Cite this article

Abstract

Background

Despite the lack of evidence on the necessity of dietary supplements to meet nutrients requirements, the majority of people use them all over the world. This study aimed to investigate factors associated with supplement use in women who work in health centers in the city of Tehran.

Methods

Five hundred sixty three female health workers participated in a cross-sectional study carried out in 2010 in health centers of Tehran. Weight, height, and waist circumference were measured and body mass index was calculated. Data on demographic characteristics, lifestyle, and dietary supplement use were collected by interviewing. The analysis was conducted using univariate and multivariate logistic regression (MLR) in SPSS version 16.

Results

The prevalence of dietary supplement use was 53.8%. In univariate logistic regression model, age, education, husband’s education, duration of employment, and tendency for changing weight at the time of the study were statistically significant predictors (P < 0.05). After MLR analysis, education (OR: 1.11, 95% CI: 1.05-1.17) and duration of employment (OR: 1.04, 95% CI: 1.02-1.06) remained significant in the model. Women with higher education and longer duration of employment had more tendency to use nutrient supplements.

Conclusion

Our findings showed that education and duration of employment were the most important predictors for taking dietary supplements in this population.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all the women who participated in this study. Valuable comments by Dr. Fatemeh Mohammadi are hereby acknowledged.

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Shariati Hospital, Tehran, Iran

    Fereshteh Baygi

  2. Department of Community Nutrition, School of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Porsina streets, Ghods street, Tehran, Iran

    Gity Sotoudeh & Haleh Sadrzadeh-Yeganeh

  3. Department of Public Health, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran

    Mostafa Qorbani

  4. Department of Epidemiology, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Mostafa Qorbani

  5. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Abbass Rahimi

  6. Department of Cellular, Molecular Nutrition, School of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Fariba Koohdani

  7. Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Iran

    Hamid Asayesh

Authors
  1. Fereshteh Baygi
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  2. Gity Sotoudeh
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  3. Mostafa Qorbani
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  4. Haleh Sadrzadeh-Yeganeh
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  5. Abbass Rahimi
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  6. Fariba Koohdani
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  7. Hamid Asayesh
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gity Sotoudeh.

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Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Authors’ contributions

GS, conceived of the study and revised the manuscript. FB wrote draft of the manuscript. MQ, carried out the statistical analysis. HS, FK and HA participated in its design and revised the manuscript. AR, carried out consultation about the epidemiology. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Baygi, F., Sotoudeh, G., Qorbani, M. et al. Predictors of dietary supplement use among female health workers in Tehran. J Diabetes Metab Disord 12, 26 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1186/2251-6581-12-26

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Keywords

  • Dietary supplement
  • Lifestyle
  • Health worker
  • Women
  • Body mass index