Obesity Abstracts

Introduction: Obesity is a non-communicable disease with increasing prevalence and complications in our society. Previous systematic review of published papers on obesity in Nigeria showed its prevalence ranged from 8.1% to 22.2% while overweight ranged from 20.3% to 35.1%.

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence and associations of obesity and hypertension among civil servants in a state in North Central Nigeria.

Methods: This was a prospective comparative cross-sectional study of 130 consenting civil servants in a parastatal in North central Nigeria. Socio-demographic and relevant clinical history was elicited through interviewer administered questionnaire. The body weight(kg), height(m), systolic blood pressure (SBP)[mmHg], diastolic blood pressure (DBP)[mmHg]), and fasting blood glucose (FBG)[mmol/l] were measured. Body mass index (BMI) was taken as a measure of obesity and calculated as weight/height² [kg/m²]. Obesity (using BMI) was categorized by the World Health Organization. Blood pressure ≥140/90 was taken as hypertension. Descriptive statistics was conducted and the prevalence of obesity, diabetes mellitus and hypertension determined. Pearson’s correlation, univariable and multivariable linear regression modelling were conducted with BMI as the outcome variable. P value <0.05 was taken as statistically significant level.

Results: About 41.4% were men and the mean(±S.D.)[years] age was 40.1±9.6. The BMI ranged from 18.0 to 43.9 and the mean(±S.D.) BMI was 29.5±19.2. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 36.2% and 32.8% respectively. The mean(±S.D.) SBP: 136±23.4; mean(±S.D.) DBP: 90.7±13.2. The prevalence of systolic and diastolic hypertension was 17.1% and 60.5% respectively. Family history of hypertension was found in 32.4% of the participants. The mean (±S.D.) FBG was 5.4±3.0, the prevalence of diabetes mellitus was 3.4% while family history of diabetes mellitus found in 11.7% of participants. There was positive correlation between BMI and SBP(r = P=0.01) and DBP(r = P=0.02). After multivariable regression, it was found that for every unit increase in SBP, BMI increased by 64.6% (β=0.646, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.202–1.090, P value =0.04).

Conclusion: The prevalence of obesity appears to be increasing in Nigeria and this probably contributes to the increase in hypertension in the country.