Abstract:
Objectives: Adolescent overweight and obesity is a public
health concern globally, especially in lower- and middle-
income countries where there is an additional burden
of undernutrition. The prevalence of adolescent over-
weight/2obesity has increased markedly over the past three
decades. The transition in dietary habits coupled with
reduced physical activity has been blamed for the
increasing trend. Overweight/obesity in adolescence is
complicated by cardiometabolic, respiratory, musculo-
skeletal and psychosocial disorders. Additionally, adoles-
cent obesity is a predictor of future development of type 2
diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and metabolic disorders.
The burden of cardiometabolic risk factors associated with
adolescent overweight/obesity in Ghana is lacking, the
project, therefore, was undertaken to add to the existing
knowledge.
Methods: The study was undertaken in adolescent stu-
dents of a tertiary institution in Ghana. Two hundred and
one students consented to participate in the study. Ques-
tionnaires on sociodemographic characteristics, dietary
and substance abuse habits were self-administered. Blood
pressure, height, weight and waist circumference mea-
sures were performed and venous blood drawn for the
determination of fasting serum total/LDL/HDL cholesterol
and triglycerides. Body mass indices were determined as
the weight per square of their heights.
Results: The prevalence of obesity was determined to be
15.81% generally, 27.71% in the females and 7.08% in the
males. Diastolic blood pressure was the only car-
diometabolic risk factor significantly associated with
obesity in our study.
Conclusion: Overweight/obesity is common in Ghanaian
adolescents, with the prevalence highest in the female
population.
