Assessment of Cardiovascular Indices in Obese Women Resident in Rivers State, Nigeria

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), which are often thought to be a “man’s” challenge, are now recorded as the primary cause of death for women globally. Consequently, the present study set out to assess the cardiovascular indices in obese women resident in Rivers State, Nigeria. Utilizing the Leslie Fischer's formula; exactly 334 obese and non-obese women within their 18 and 65 years of age with no obvious health condition and resident in Upland and Riverine areas of Rivers State were recruited by the present study. The multistage sampling technique was used, and subjects were drawn across the upland and riverine locations of the State. Consenting subjects were randomly surveyed from the multi-ethnic residents of the state. Anthropometric (body mass index-BMI) data and auscultatory blood pressure measurement were done using Seca weight/height scale and mercury sphygmomanometer and stethoscope respectively. Electrocardiographic (ECG) features were recorded using the standard resting 12 – lead ECG. Numerical data obtained were subjected to statistical analyses using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 21.0. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and independent t-test with a p< 0.05 considered statistically significant were determined. The BMI values were generally higher in the RVR subjects when compared to their UPL counterparts, but only that of obese class II were significant (P<0.05) of the aforementioned increases. The systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP) of all subjects indicated graded increases from obese class I to obese class III and these increases were seen to be significant (P<0.05) when compared to that of the non-obese and down the successive groups. The ECG features in the non-obese and obese class I subgroups indicated higher prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy in the UPL residents than the RVR residents. The study thus found that there was a significantly raised prevalence of obesity in younger RVR .......