<p>Epidemiology of General, Central Obesity and Associated Cardio-Metabolic Risks Among University Employees, Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Study</p>

Abstract

Background: Evidence suggests that middle and low-income countries such as Ethiopia are facing the growing epidemic of both communicable and non-communicable diseases creating a burden on their economy and healthcare system. The increasing prevalence of noncommunicable diseases is attributed to sedentarism, lifestyle changes, nutritional transition, and the presence of other cardiometabolic risk factors. Therefore this study was designed to assess the prevalence and association of overweight, obesity, and cardio-metabolic risks and to explore if there was any agreement among the anthropometric measurements among the academic employees of the University of Gondar, Ethiopia. Methods: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted using the WHO stepwise approach and recommendations on 381 academic staff of the university. In addition, physical measurements such as weight, height, waist and hip circumferences, and biochemical measures such as blood pressure and fasting blood glucose level (peripheral blood samples by finger puncture) were measured using standardized tools. Results: The mean age of the participants was 33.5 (95% CI: 32.7, 34.2) years. The prevalence of obesity among the study participants calculated by body mass index, waist circumference (WC), waist-height ratio (WHtR), and waist-hip ratio (WHR) was 13.1%, 33.6%, 51.9%, and 58.5% respectively. The prevalence of diabetes was 4.7% among which 1.3% was not diagnosed prior to this study. About 53 (13.9%) of the study sample were found to be hypertensive (HTN) (6.3% known versus 29 7.6% newly diagnosed). Among the participants, 39.4% and 23.4% were found to be pre-hypertensive and pre-diabetic respectively. WC was significantly associated with hypertension (AOR = 5.14; 2.503, 9.72), pre-DM (AOR = 4.03; 2.974, 5.96), DM (AOR = 3.29; 1.099, 6.01). In addition, WHtR was significantly associated with Pre-HTN (AOR = 2.69; 1.49, 4.58), HTN (AOR = 2.066; 1.008, 6.31), and DM (AOR = 1.855; 0.76, 4.32). On the contrary, both WHR and general obesity measured by BMI were not significantly associated with pre-HTN, HTN, pre-DM and DM groups. Conclusion: This study results revealed the variable prevalence between general obesity and the anthropometric indices (IDF cutoff) defining central obesity; WC, WHtR, and WHR among the participants. The result of this study suggests that the constructs of central obesity, not BMI has to be used to screen risks of cardio-metabolic risks among Ethiopians.

<p>Magnitude of Central Obesity and its Associated Factors Among Adults in Urban Areas of Northwest Ethiopia</p>

“…35 However, our finding is lower than that of studies done in the USA, 36 Omani adults, 37 Eastern Sudan, 38 and Gondar, Ethiopia. 39 Conversely, the current finding is higher than that of the studies done in Northwest China, 40 Northern Iran, 41 India, 42 and Egypt. 43 These discrepancies may be due to the sociodemographic and ethnic background difference of the study participants.…”

<p>Metabolic Syndrome Among Working Adults in Eastern Ethiopia</p>

“… 28 , 29 The high prevalence of overweight and obesity in the study population is consistent with other studies in Ethiopia among university employees. 30 Nevertheless, the MetS prevalence we observed was lower than the average prevalence for working adults in sub-Saharan African countries. 3 , 9 , 31 The difference could be due to the age variation of the study populations.…”

“… 37 , 42 The result could be explained in light of the changes in body metabolism and energy expenditure in adults coupled with physical inactivity and adoption of unhealthy lifestyles such as alcohol consumption as age increases. 30 , 43 Older age also predisposes to an increase in insulin resistant abdominal adipose tissue. 31 As age increases fat is prone to be accumulated in the abdomen and releases free fatty acids into the serum, leading to higher insulin resistance, elevated serum triglyceride levels, and increased low density lipoprotein-cholesterol levels, consequently leading to a greater risk of MetS.…”

Prevalence of overweight/obesity among the adult population in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Overall information regarding the prevalence of overweight and obesity among adults was obtained from various regions in the country. Six of the studies involved participants from Amhara, [32][33][34][35][36][37] four from Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region, [38][39][40][41] one from Oromia, 42 one from Somali, 43 one from Tigrai, 44 one from Addis Ababa 45 and two studies involving participants from the different regions. 46 47 Regarding sampling, all of the studies had used the probability sampling technique.…”