Abstract

Background and Objective: The prevalence of overweight and obesity is increased rapidly and becoming a public health problem in many countries of the world including Thailand. Overweight increases the risk of several Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs). This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of e-Health to manage obesity through regular physical activity and healthy eating behavior among Thais overweight women. Materials and Methods: A comparative cross-sectional study with the pre-post design was conducted by recruiting one hundred overweight women with a mean Body Mass Index (BMI) 27.8 kg m&#150;2 and ages 35-65 years were allocated into two groups (N = 100). The intervention group was given Health messages through mobile applications while a control group was observed through their routine activities. Baseline and end line data after 24 weeks of measurement were taken. The data were analyzed with the Pearson’s chi-square test and independent t-test to check differences within the group and an independent t-test and paired t-test were used to compare the differences between groups and within group. Ethical approval was granted prior to conduct this study. Results: Fifty participants in the interventional group had a significant decreased in mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure (p<0.001), blood glucose (p<0.001), body fat percentage (p<0.001), spent sitting time/day (p = 0.001), increase of food frequency scores (p<0.001) and moderate to vigorous physical activity per week (p<0.001) as compared to equal numbers in the control group which was statistically found non-significant. Conclusion: The study has concluded that health is effective to manage obesity through regular exercise and behavior change among overweight women of Thailand.