An Assessment of Knowledge of Nigerian Female Undergraduates on Obesity as a Risk Factor for Cardiovascular Disease in Women

Abstract

There is an increasing predilection to obesity and consequent cardiovascular disease (CVD) among women. This study investigated knowledge of Nigerian female undergraduates on obesity as a risk factor for CVD in women. This cross-sectional study recruited 400 female undergraduate students at a tertiary institution in Nigeria. A validated questionnaire was used to assess respondents' knowledge of obesity as a risk factor for CVD. Descriptive statistics of frequency, mean and standard deviation were used to summarize data while inferential statistics of Spearman Rank Correlation was used to determine the relationship between knowledge score and each of age, level of study, and source of information. Alpha level was set at 0.05. Excessive high calorie intake, 322(80.5%), fatty food intake, 393(98.3%) and physical inactivity, 360(90.0%) were the most implicated causative factors for obesity. Three hundred and thirty five (83.8%) respondents recognized obesity as a leading cause of CVD. The result of this study also showed that there were no significant relationships between knowledge of obesity as risk factor for CVD and each of age (r = -0.04; p = 0.37), level of study (r =0.04; p = 0.45) and source of information (r = -0.005; p = 0.92). We concluded that Nigerian female undergraduates demonstrated average to good knowledge on obesity as risk factor for cardiovascular disease in women. Socio-demographic variables and source of information did not influence Knowledge of obesity as a risk factor for CVD among Nigerian female undergraduates.