Prevalence Of Overweight And Obesity Among Urban Nigeria Adults In Jos

Abstract

Objective: Overweight and obesity have been shown to be associated with non-communicable disease (NCDS) like type 2 Diabetes, Hypertension and Ischaemic Heart disease (IHD) both in longitudinal and cross sectional overweight and obesity in Nigerian population. In the absence of any standard weight for height tables for the adult population in Nigeria, earlier studies referred the weights of subjects. In this study, overweight and obesity were determined using the body mass index (BMI, kg/m 2 ) (Quetelet index). The study defines the prevalence of overweight and obesity among a sample of adult Nigerians living in Jos, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: With a two-stage random cluster-sampling scheme based on existing administrative divisions, 902 subjects, >15 years of age residing in central Jos were enlisted. Of the 902 subjects, 825 (403) males and 422 females were examined. pregnant and ill subjects were excluded. Body mass index (BMI) was defined as weight (kg) divided by the square of the height in meters (m 2 ). Subjects with BMI>25kg/m 2 were regarded as being overweight obese, and those with BMI>30kg/m 2 as being definitely obese. Result:The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 21.4% (19.4%) in males and 23.5% in females (M:F= 1:1.3, p Conclusion: The prevalence rates of overweight and obesity in urban adults in Jos appear moderately high. The results from this study indicate that overweight and obesity which were previously thought to be infrequent in the Africans, are rising in frequency which may explain the rising trends of NCDS in urban African adults. Key words: Overweight, Obesity, Body-Mass index (BMI), Waist-to-hip ration (WRH). Highland Medical Research Journal Vol.1(1) 2002: 13-16