Anthropometric indices and cardiovascular risk of polytechnic students in selected tertiary institution in Ogun State South West Nigeria.

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality associated with obesity. The BMI offers useful information that allows the overall assessment of adiposity, while waist circumference (CC) and waist / height index (ICE) assess abdominal adiposity as predictors of cardiovascular risk. This study was designed to determine anthropometric indices and cardiovascular risk of polytechnic students in Southwest Nigeria. A simple random technique was used to select about 2000 ready and willing regular students selected from Polytechnics in Southwest Nigeria. A pre-validated structured questionnaire was used to obtain information on the sociodemographic characteristics while anthropometric characteristics were evaluated to determine the weight, height, waist and hip ratio. The Body Mass Index was used to classify the Nutritional status while the Cardiovascular risk was classified according to World Health Organization standard. The result of the body mass index of the respondents showed that 75 % of the respondents had normal weight (18.5-24.9 kg/m² ), 11 % are overweight (25.5-29.9 kg/m² ), 3 % had obesity grade 1 (30.5-34.9 kg/m² ), 3 % had obesity grade 2 (30.5-34.9 kg/m² ) and 6 % are underweight (below 18.5 kg/m² ). The results of the Cardiovascular risk showed that 70 % had normal, 15 % had abdominal obesity which is the indicator of cardiovascular risk. The study revealed that the majority of the students had good body mass index while few had obesity grade 1 and 2. Also, the cardiovascular risk factor indicators are a little bit high. There is need for nutrition education and advocacy for the students.