Anthropometric characteristics, blood pressure profile and medical conditions of married women attending the family planning clinic of Uuth, Uyo, Southern Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Contraception is an essential tool in the fight against population explosion and its sequelae globally. The practice of contraception is influenced by several factors at different settings. Many side effects including weight gain, elevated blood pressure/other cardiovascular risks, etc have been linked to contraceptive use. This study was done to find out the anthropometric characteristics, blood pressure profile and medical conditions among married women aged 15-49 years who attended the family planning clinic of the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, UUTH, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.

Method: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study involving 165 married women aged 15-49 years who attended the family planning clinic of UUTH, Uyo between May and September 2013, recruited through simple random sampling technique. A semistructured interviewer administered questionnaire was used to obtain information on socio-demographic characteristics, health conditions and other variables affecting contraceptive practice among the respondents. The height, weight, waist and hip circumferences were taken, body mass index (BMI) and waist-hip ratio (WHR) were calculated, and the blood pressure of the respondents were measured. The data obtained were analysed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS).

Results: The mean age of the subjects were 32:22(±5.26). The results obtained showed that the mean and standard deviation of the respondent's height, weight, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were 159.7±10.3cm, 73±12.8cm, 117.0±11.3mmHg and 78.7±10.3mmHg respectively. Using BMI classification, 40.6% of the woman were obese, 38.2% were overweight while 21.2% were of normal weight. Using WHR classification, most (62.9%) of the respondents were obese while 32.1% had normal weight. About 25.5% of the women were hypertensive while 74.5% of them were normotensive, using JNC -7 classifications. Contraceptive use was significantly associated with BMI classification (P=0.000), blood pressure classification (P=0.000) and history of hypertension among the respondents (P=0.004).

Conclusion: The study showed that abnormal health conditions including obesity and hypertension exist among women seeking for contraceptive utilization. These conditions affect the efficacy of some contraceptive products and are aggravated by some contraceptives. Therefore careful screening through history taking and exanimation of contraceptive users by the providers to identify the problems and counsel the users appropriately on the suitable contraceptives, is highly recommended.

Keywords: Anthropometric characteristics, Blood Pressure, medical conditions