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The prevalence of adult obesity in Ogbomoso, southwest Nigeria


I.O. Amole
A Adeniran
O.T. Awotunde
O.A. Durodola
B.O. Oyelade

Abstract

Background: In many developing countries obesity and obesity-related morbidities are now becoming a major health challenges.
Objectives: To determine the prevalence of obesity among adults using the measure of body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC).
Methods: A hospital based cross-sectional descriptive study of 400 adults was carried out. A standardized questionnaire was administered to the participants and had measurements of weight, height and waist circumference taken.
Results: Four hundred subjects were randomly selected (221 females and 179 males) and the mean age was 48.7 ± 16. 6 years. The overall prevalence of obesity using BMI was 14.8%, and based on WC was 33.8%. The prevalence of obesity using the BMI and WC among the males was the same (8.9%) while among the females the prevalence based on BMI was 19.5% and that of WC was 53.8%. The female subjects were more sedentary than the males (50.8% for males, 62.4% for females, p<0.05). Most of the obese subjects based on BMI (88.1%) and waist circumference (85.2%) preferred high calorie food.
Conclusion: Obesity in the study was high among females and is associated with physical inactivity and the consumption of high calorie diets.

Keywords: Obesity, body mass index, waist circumference, Nigeria.

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eISSN: 2467-8252
print ISSN: 2360-7793