Innocent Ijezie Chukwuonye, Abali Chuku, Ugochukwu Onyeonoro, Andrew Ukegbu, Ernest Anyabolu, Ikechi Okpechi, Okechukwu O. Madukwe and Okechukwu Samuel Ogah
Background and objectives: Obesity is assuming an epidemic dimension globally. Currently more than 1.9 billion adults are overweight - and at least 600 million of them are obese. There is dearth of community based study on prevalence and predictors of obesity in Nigeria, and none from Abia state in particular, prompting us to undertake the study. Material and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study, aimed at ascertaining the prevalence and predictors of obesity in the state. The study subjects were recruited from the three senatorial zones in the state. In each of the zones, an urban and a rural community were randomly selected. The World Health Organization Stepwise Approach to Surveillance of chronic disease risk factors was used. Body mass index, anthropometric measurements, and other relevant data were also collected. Results: Overweight was present in 716 (28.2%) and obesity was present in 313 (12.3%) of the subjects. Ninety five (30.4%) of the obese subjects were men, while 281(69.7%) were women. One hundred and eighty (57.5%) of the obese subjects were urban dwellers, while 133 (42.4%) were rural dwellers. The women and urban dwellers were significantly more obese than men and rural dwellers respectively (p<0.001). Using multiple logistic regression analysis two variables predicted obesity in the study population. These were gender (OR=2.83, 95%CI 2.150-3.717, P=<0.001), and locality (OR=1.40, 95%CI 1.154-1.979, P=0.027). Conclusion: The prevalence of obesity in the state is significantly high and gender and locality are predictors of obesity in southeast Nigeria.