Overweight and Obesity: Does It Occur In Nigerian Adolescents in an Urban Community?

Abstract

Background: Childhood obesity is a serious public health problem because of its strong association with adulthood obesity and the related adverse health consequences. The published literature indicates a rising prevalence of childhood obesity in both developed and developing countries. However, there are few studies on prevalence of obesity on Nigerian adolescents in an urban community. Objective: The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of overweight and obesity in Nigerian adolescents from urban community. Methods: A cross-sectional school based survey was conducted to determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity in adolescents of urban Sagamu community. A probability proportional to size was used to select 11 schools where 1638 participants, ages 12-18 years were selected. Their weight, height, body mass index and triceps skinfold were assessed. Overweight and obesity was defined using IOTF, CDC and NHANES III cutoff points. Results: The prevalence of overweight seems high in both genders (0-8.1% and 1.3-8.1% in males and females respectively) while obesity prevalence was low (0-2.7% and 0-1.9% in males and females respectively). More adolescents could be classified as obese when triceps skinfold was used as a measure of obesity. Conclusion: More adolescents demonstrated high prevalence of overweight and low prevalence of obesity.