Prevalence of overweight and obesity among health-care workers in University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Overweight and obesity seem to be responsible for the occurrence of noncommunicable diseases among the health-care workers. This study was conducted among the health-care workers in the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Benin City, South-South Nigeria, to determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity and assess their lipid profile. Subjects and Methods: Three hundred and twenty-five hospital workers ranging from doctors, nurses, and other health-care workers were recruited for this study. Demographic and socioeconomic data were collected using a structured questionnaire. One hundred and sixty (49%) were male while 165 (51%) were female with average age of 40.9 ± 8.8 years and average body mass index (BMI) of 26.7 ± 5.9 kg/m2. BMI and blood pressure measurements were taken using standard techniques. BMI was classified using the National Institutes of Health criteria, 2000. Results: Based on BMI, the prevalence of overweight and generalized obesity among health-care workers in the UBTH, Benin City, were 31.7% and 25.5%, respectively. Overweight and obesity are more common among female health-care workers than their male counterparts. Using the waist circumference, approximately 60% of the health-care workers had central obesity, while 57.2% are either overweight or obese. More than half of the overweight and obese patients have elevated low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol. Conclusion: The high prevalence of overweight and obesity seen among health-care workers calls for the introduction of therapeutic lifestyle modification in this group of workers. Even though there was no significant difference in the lipid levels across the BMI categories, the means of total cholesterol were found to be elevated among health-care workers.