Prevalence and determinants of overweight and obesity in adult residents of Cape Coast, Ghana: A hospital-based study

摘要

The prevalence of obesity in developing countries is more noticeable in urban areas with as much as 20-50% of the urban population of African countries estimated to be either overweight or obese. Studies investigating the prevalence of overweight and obesity in developing countries have mainly been concentrated in the capital and major cities of these countries whilst neglecting other urban settlements. It is against this background that a hospital-based cross-sectional design was employed to determine the overweight and obesity prevalence in Cape Coast, an urban settlement in the Central Region of Ghana, to identify the vulnerable groups and factors associated with the disease within this urban population. Anthropometric methods and structured questionnaire were used to determine the BMI status of 300 adults sampled from the Out Patients Department of the main hospital in the area and establish the predisposing factors of the disease in the area. Prevalence of overweight and obesity within this population was relatively high with rates of 21% and 17%, respectively. Several socio-demographic and lifestyle characteristics, and parity were found to be associated with overweight and obesity in the area. Of the socio-demographic parameters studied age, sex, occupation, marital status and ethnic origin of respondents were highly associated with overweight and obesity (p Key words: Prevalence, Overweight, Obesity, BMI, Exercise