Socioeconomic status and obesity in Abia State, South East Nigeria

Figures & data

Figure 1 Showing the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria, a West African country.

Table 1 The prevalence of obesity in low income, middle income and upper income classes

Age by sex	Subjects	Mean BMI ± SD	Distribution of BMI, % of subjects
			<18.5	18.5–24.9	25.0–29.9	≥30.0
Men
Low income
<24	73	23.19 ± 3.00	0.0	79.5	17.8	2.7
25–34	156	24.11 ± 3.61	0.0	66.7	26.9	6.4
35–44	100	24.84 ± 3.30	1.0	48.0	45.0	6.0
45–54	94	24.19 ± 3.50	1.1	59.6	31.9	7.4
55–64	63	24.51 ± 3.94	1.6	54.0	33.3	11.1
≥65	93	23.02 ± 3.98	8.6	64.5	20.4	6.5
Total	579	24.00 ± 3.61	1.9	62.2	29.4	6.6
Middle income
<24	23	21.85 ± 2.80	0.0	91.3	8.7	0.0
25–34	86	24.47 ± 3.14	1.2	59.9	33.7	5.0
35–44	74	25.64 ± 4.41	1.4	52.7	27.0	18.9
45–54	51	26.82 ± 5.22	0.0	41.1	35.3	23.5
55–64	32	25.49 ± 3.51	6.3	21.9	65.6	6.3
≥65	25	25.50 ± 3.84	4.0	40.0	48.0	8.0
Total	291	25.18 ± 4.13	1.7	51.2	35.1	12.0
Upper income
<24	2	20.88 ± 1.19	0.0	100	0.0	0.0
25–34	6	23.25 ± 2.81	0.0	66.7	33.3	0.0
35–44	5	24.79 ± 2.39	0.0	40.0	60.0	0.0
45–54	4	27.56 ± 5.58	0.0	50.0	25.0	25.0
55–64	7	27.76 ± 7.41	14.3	14.0	42.9	28.6
≥65	3	28.05 ± 2.55	0.0	0.0	66.7	33.3
Total	27	25.70 ± 4.99	3.7	40.7	40.7	14.8
Women
Low income
<24	79	24.00 ± 3.89	1.3	65.8	24.1	8.9
25–34	165	25.42 ± 4.87	1.2	52.7	27.6	18.2
35–44	119	26.83 ± 5.15	8.0	37.8	33.7	27.7
45–54	115	26.27 ± 5.98	9.0	50.4	30.4	18.3
55–64	84	25.08 ± 4.60	1.2	50.0	33.3	15.5
≥65	75	24.84 ± 4.72	1.3	58.6	29.3	10.7
Total	637	25.56 ± 5.05	1.1	51.5	29.8	17.6
Middle income
<24	8	24.50 ± 6.04	12.5	50.0	25.0	12.5
25–34	58	25.33 ± 5.28	3.4	53.4	29.3	13.8
35–44	34	28.20 ± 5.68	0.0	29.4	41.2	29.4
45–54	38	27.09 ± 4.07	0.0	39.5	39.5	21.1
55–64	15	30.63 ± 6.01	0.0	26.7	20.0	53.3
≥65	6	27.03 ± 8.20	0.0	66.7	0.0	33.3
Total	159	26.89 ± 5.64	1.9	42.8	32.1	23.3
Upper income
<24	0	0.00	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
25–34	4	27.76 ± 8.83	25.0	0.0	25.0	50.0
35–44	4	31.59 ± 6.34	0.0	0.0	33.3	66.7
45–54	4	24.57 ± 4.91	0.0	50.0	50.0	0.0
55–64	2	21.43 ± 1.74	0.0	100.0	0.0	0.0
≥65	0	0.00	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Total	16	27.04 ± 6.81	7.7	30.8	30.8	30.8
All participants
Low income	1,216	24.80 ± 4.48	1.5	56.8	29.5	12.2
Middle income	450	25.78 ± 4.78	1.8	48.3	33.9	16.0
Upper income	40	26.16 ± 5.63	5.0	37.5	37.5	20.0

Note: Age measured in years, BMI as kg/m².

Abbreviation: BMI, body mass index; SD, standard deviation.

Table 2 The prevalence of obesity in those with no formal education, primary, secondary, and tertiary education

Age by sex	Subjects	Mean BMI ± SD	Distribution of BMI, % of subjects
			<18.5	18.5–24.9	25.0–29.9	≥30.0
Men
No formal education
<24	1	21.93 ± 0.00	0.0	100.0	0.0	0.0
25–34	1	23.05 ± 0.00	0.0	100.0	0.0	0.0
35–44	3	23.12 ± 0.92	0.0	100.0	9.9	0.0
45–54	4	21.09 ± 0.53	0.0	100.0	9.9	0.0
55–64	11	24.84 ± 3.32	0.0	45.5	54.5	0.0
≥65	37	22.20 ± 3.64	18.9	59.5	18.9	2.7
Total	57	22.69 ± 3.64	12.3	63.2	22.8	1.8
Primary
<24	11	21.95 ± 2.63	9.1	81.8	9.1	0.0
25–34	47	24.02 ± 4.30	0.0	63.8	29.8	6.4
35–44	51	24.26 ± 4.41	3.9	60.8	23.5	11.8
45–54	66	24.69 ± 4.35	1.5	57.6	24.2	16.7
55–64	59	24.00 ± 4.31	6.8	49.2	33.9	10.2
≥65	85	23.55 ± 4.08	5.9	65.9	18.8	9.4
Total	319	24.00 ± 4.23	4.1	60.5	24.8	10.0
Secondary
<24	180	22.61 ± 2.99	2.8	84.4	10.0	2.8
25–34	184	24.17 ± 3.14	5.0	66.8	27.2	5.4
35–44	85	25.30 ± 3.27	0.0	44.7	47.1	8.2
45–54	65	25.00 ± 3.79	1.5	47.7	43.1	7.7
55–64	34	26.33 ± 4.90	0.0	32.4	52.9	14.7
≥65	40	21.17 ± 3.97	5.0	57.7	30.0	7.5
Total	588	24.06 ± 3.51	1.5	64.3	28.2	6.0
Tertiary
<24	31	22.78 ± 2.48	0.0	80.6	19.4	0.0
25–34	82	24.45 ± 3.66	1.2	54.9	35.4	8.5
35–44	52	26.13 ± 3.80	0.0	44.2	40.4	15.4
45–54	31	26.20 ± 5.28	0.0	54.8	29.0	16.1
55–64	24	26.56 ± 2.48	4.2	29.2	45.8	20.8
≥65	19	25.43 ± 3.34	0.0	36.8	57.9	5.3
Total	239	25.12 ± 3.95	0.8	51.9	36.4	10.9
Women
No formal education
<24	2	23.01 ± 1.12	0.0	100.0	0.0	0.0
25–34	7	21.69 ± 2.36	0.0	85.7	14.3	0.0
35–44	6	22.28 ± 4.75	0.0	83.3	0.0	16.7
45–54	30	24.24 ± 3.99	0.0	63.3	33.3	3.3
55–64	31	23.05 ± 4.17	3.2	74.2	9.7	12.9
≥65	105	23.12 ± 4.78	6.7	68.8	21.0	7.6
Total	181	23.20 ± 4.45	4.4	68.0	19.9	7.7
Primary
<24	14	24.84 ± 3.06	0.0	78.6	7.1	14.3
25–34	42	24.88 ± 4.34	0.0	61.9	23.8	14.3
35–44	46	26.55 ± 4.93	0.0	45.7	30.4	23.9
45–54	72	26.56 ± 6.31	1.4	45.8	30.6	22.2
55–64	76	26.04 ± 4.86	2.6	43.4	32.9	21.1
≥65	50	25.71 ± 5.47	4.0	52.0	30.0	14.0
Total	300	25.98 ± 5.24	1.7	50.0	29.0	19.3
Secondary
<24	196	23.26 ± 3.28	3,1	69.4	24.0	3.6
25–34	208	25.47 ± 5.25	2.4	51.4	27.9	18.3
35–44	103	26.89 ± 5.13	0.0	37.9	35.9	26.2
45–54	49	25.99 ± 5.59	2.0	51.0	26.5	20.4
55–64	17	27.76 ± 4.59	0.0	35.3	41.2	23.5
≥65	17	25.24 ± 6.06	5.9	47.1	29.4	17.6
Total	590	25.09 ± 4.90	2.2	54.4	28.3	15.1
Tertiary
<24	37	24.13 ± 3.98	0.0	73.0	18.9	8.1
25–34	78	26.35 ± 4.93	0.0	47.4	33.3	19.2
35–44	49	28.91 ± 5.75	2.0	24.5	36.7	36.7
45–54	29	22.45 ± 6.09	0.0	31.0	37.9	31.0
55–64	12	29.76 ± 7.51	8.3	25.0	16.7	50.0
≥65	8	30.22 ± 6.63	0.0	25.0	37.5	37.5
Total	213	27.31 ± 5.68	0.9	42.3	31.5	21.4
All participants
Illiterate	238	23.05 ± 4.28	6.3	66.8	20.6	6.3
Primary	619	24.91 ± 4.86	2.5	55.4	26.8	14.9
Secondary	1,178	24.57 ± 4.29	1.9	59.3	28.3	10.5
Tertiary	452	26.15 ± 4.96	1.5	47.3	33.6	17.7

Note: Age measured in years, BMI as kg/m².

Abbreviation: BMI, body mass index; SD, standard deviation.

Table 3 Socioeconomic factors associated with obesity among study participants

Socioeconomic factor	P-value	OR	95% CI
Educational status
Male	0.925	1.01	0.78–1.31
Female	0.004	1.31	1.09–1.57
All	0.712	1.14	0.99–1.32
Income per annum
Male	0.012	1.57	1.11–2.23
Female	0.004	1.60	1.16–2.20
All	0.010	1.35	1.08–1.70

Abbreviations: OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval.