NURSES in Scotland are significantly more likely to be obese or overweight than any other health professional, research has found.

Seven in 10 nurses are too heavy according to a sample of more than 13,000 health professionals aged 17 to 65, including 411 nurses.

That compares to a rate of around 50 per cent for their fellow health professionals and is higher than the Scottish average of around six in 10 people being overweight or obese.

The study, published in the International Journal of Nursing Standards, concluded that interventions were "urgently required" to tackle the problem.

The high prevalence found in Scotland not only potentially harmed nurses’ own health but could also reduce the impact of public health advice they provide to patients, said the research paper.

Previous studies have found nurses are effectively seen as role models and that the general public has less confidence in advice about diet and exercise if provided by an overweight nurse.

The researchers state: “The high levels of overweight and obesity observed in our study raises some concerns about the effectiveness of health promotion that is reliant on seizing ‘teachable moments’ during routine patient interactions.”

The obesity study was carried out by researchers at Edinburgh Napier University.

They also found that Scottish nurses were more likely to be overweight or obese than their counterparts in the US, where 55 per cent of nurses had a BMI of 25 or more - the threshold for an unhealthy weight - while they were also heavier on average than nurses in the UK as a whole, New Zealand and Australia.

The researchers said there was no clear explanation for the vast majority nurses in Scotland being overweight or obese, but recommended the development of "supportive workplace interventions" to make it easier for them to slim down or maintain a healthy weight.

Poor diet and low levels of physical activity, which are known to increase the risk of overweight, have been found in around half of UK nurses from previous research.

Occupational factors including lack of access to healthy food in the workplace and working shifts – which disrupt regular sleep, eating and exercise habits – were also highlighted by the researchers as potentially having an impact.

But, the paper noted, the fact that other countries where nurses also work shifts had lower prevalence of overweight made it harder to explain why Scotland should have worse rates of overweight and obese nurses.

“Our findings have important implications for health promotion policy, nurse education, and the development of supportive workplace interventions for nurses,” said the study paper.

It suggested student nurses in Scotland should be targeted by using undergraduate courses to promote healthy eating and exercise behaviours.