Alert as 1 in 4 nurses found to be obese

A QUARTER of the nation’s nurses are obese, a ‘deeply worrying’ study found.

The findings put obesity rates in nurses as higher than among the public as a whole, with long hours and stress a possible cause for unhealthy lifestyles.

And with almost half of nurses over the age of 5, this poses ‘a likely future burden of ill health for the healthcare workforce’, researchers warned.

Meanwhile, one in three unregistered care workers – such as care home workers and nursing assistants – was found to have a BMI classing them as obese.

Researchers from London South Bank University and Edinburgh Napier University assessed obesity prevalence among healthcare professionals and the general population in England.

Co-author Dr Richard Kyle, from Edinburgh Napier, said more needed to be done to help health workers. He added: ‘That one in four nurses in England have been found to be obese is deeply worrying, not least because we know obesity is linked to diseases such as cancer, cardio-vascular disease, and diabetes.’

Of 22 nurses surveyed, 25.1 per cent were obese, compared with 23.5 per cent among the general public, the study published in journal BMJ Open said.