الفهرس 
INTRODUCTION AND RATIONALEOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Obesity is a chronic disease and a major problem affecting all age groups and extending to the elderly population. Its prevalence has been rising, posing a major global threat to both developed and developing countries. According to the WHO, Egypt ranks 18th with the highest prevalence of obesity worldwide. According to a ”100 million health” survey conducted in Egypt in 2019, obesity is increasing in advanced ages, as about 39.8% of adult Egyptians aged 18 years and older are obese, compared to the screened 49.7 million adults. Obesity among the elderly is of great concern, as it can be associated with functional limitations due to decreased muscle mass and strength, increased joint dysfunction, disabilities in activities of daily living, frailty, chronic pain, and impaired quality of life.
A cross-sectional study was conducted on 136 elderly people attending El-Mahsama Family Practice Center affiliated to the Faculty of Medicine at Suez Canal University in Ismailia, Egypt. The study aimed to assess the prevalence and risk factors of obesity and the quality of life of elderly patients using a semi-structured questionnaire administered through a direct interview by the researcher, which included demographic data, risk factors, the World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF), and anthropometric measurements, respectively.
The mean age of the participants was 65.61±5.89 years. About 53% of the participants were female, 69.1% were married, and about 40% were either illiterate or could only read and write. Nearly half of the participants were not working or housewives, and about 51.5% of the sample was just able to meet their routine expenses.
Regarding the clinical characteristics of the studied sample, it was revealed that about 20% of them were smokers, 6% were ex-smokers, and about 77.2% of the participants were physically inactive. Moreover, more than two-thirds of the sample had a chronic illness (71.3%), where the top three diseases were hypertension (41.9%), diabetes mellitus (27.2%), and