Pattern of BMI percentiles among adolescents in a semi-urban community in South-Western Nigeria

Abstract

Obesity in children and adolescents is increasing globally with attendant consequences on health and mortality. Over the past two decades there has been increase in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in children, hence the need to regularly assess the body mass indices of adolescents in rapidly growing populations with the aim of early detection and management through lifestyle modification so as to prevent debilitating morbidity in adulthood. This was a cross sectional study involving 628 adolescents from two public schools and one private school in Ado Ekiti, Nigeria over four month period. With parental consent, volunteers completed a questionnaire, had their weight and height measured; body mass index calculated and BMI percentile plotted on BMI percentile charts for age and gender by Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The BMI percentile of 552 (87.9%) of the 628 studied subjects was within normal limits, 42 (6.7%) were overweight, 5 (0.8%) were obese and 29 (4.6%) were underweight using WHO definition. The proportion, 39 (13.8%), of the studied 282 female adolescents who were overweight/ obese was significantly higher than 8 (2.3%) of 346 male participants; this difference was statistically significant χ 2 = 29.767, df = 1, p = <0.001). This study showed that the prevalence of overweight/obesity among secondary school adolescents in Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria is lower than findings in other parts of Nigeria and also different compared to other parts of the world. Overweight/obesity is more common among females in the early adolescent age group.