Abstract
Adolescent overweight and obesity is a public health concern globally, especially in lower- and middle- income countries where there is an additional burden ofundernutrition. The prevalence of adolescent overweight/2obesity has increased markedly over the past three decades. The transition in dietary habits coupled with reduced physical activity has been blamed for the increasing trend. Overweight/obesity in adolescence is complicated by cardiometabolic, respiratory, musculoskeletal and psychosocial disorders. Additionally, adolescent obesity is a predictor of future development of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and metabolic disorders. The burden of cardiometabolic risk factors associated with adolescent overweight/obesity in Ghana is lacking, the project, therefore, was undertaken to add to the existing knowledge. The study was undertaken in adolescent students of a tertiary institution in Ghana. Two hundred and one students consented to participate in the study. Questionnaires on sociodemographic characteristics, dietary and substance abuse habits were self-administered. Blood pressure, height, weight and waist circumference measures were performed and venous blood drawn for the determination of fasting serum total/LDL/HDL cholesterol and triglycerides. Body mass indices were determined as the weight per square of their heights. The prevalence of obesity was determined to be 15.81% generally, 27.71% in the females and 7.08% in the males. Diastolic blood pressure was the only cardiometabolic risk factor significantly associated with obesity in our study. Overweight/obesity is common in Ghanaian adolescents, with the prevalence highest in the female population.
Highlights
Adolescence is the period between childhood and adulthood, it is characterised by marked physiological and psychosocial changes leading to adulthood [1]
Overweight/obesity is common in Ghanaian adolescents, with the prevalence highest in the female population
We have shown that overweight and obesity prevalence in adolescent Ghanaians have increased over the past decades with a significant preponderance in females
Summary
Adolescence is the period between childhood and adulthood, it is characterised by marked physiological and psychosocial changes leading to adulthood [1]. The health care burden in the adolescent population has shifted dramatically over the decades. The nutritional transition over the decades has resulted in a dramatic increase in adolescent overweight and obesity globally [1]. Adolescent overweight and obesity defined by the WHO respectively as one and two standard deviations above the median BMI-for-age and for -sex respectively, has over the decades become a serious public health challenge globally, especially in low- and middleincome countries (LMIC) [3]. As at 2016, an estimated 340 million children and adolescent aged between 5 and 19 years were either overweight or obese, with the global prevalence currently estimated at 18%, compared with 4% in the 1970s [4]. The increase in prevalence over the decades has been more pronounced in most LMIC, where there is an additional challenge of undernutrition, in what has been termed the “double burden of malnutrition” [5]
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