Adiposity and Quality of Life: A Case Study from an Urban Center in Nigeria

Abstract 

Objective

To determine relationship between adiposity indices and quality of life (QOL) of residents of a housing estate in Lagos, Nigeria.

Design

Cross-sectional survey employing multistep random sampling method.

Setting

Urban residential estate.

Participants

This study involved 900 randomly selected residents of Abesan Housing Estate, Lagos, Nigeria.

Main Outcome Measures

Body mass index (BMI); waist circumference (WC); waist-to-hip ratio (WHR); triceps skin-fold thickness (TSFT); and abdominal skin-fold thickness (ASFT) were measured using International Standard of Anthropometric Assessment methods. QOL was assessed using Short Form-20.

Analysis

Data were analyzed using the Pearson product moment correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis.

Result

The mean age of participants was 37.7 ± 14.3 years, with a range of 20 to 80 years. The mean values of adiposity indices were 24.1 ± 4.3 kg/m² (BMI), 11.5 ± 5.3 mm (TSFT), 18.5 ± 6.2 mm (ASFT), 81.8 ± 11.2 cm (WC), and 0.89 ± 0.1 (WHR). Although the overall mean QOL score was 72.02 ± 11.9, women had significantly (P < .05) lower scores (70.1 ± 5.2) than men (73.5 ± 11.3). There was inverse correlation between QOL and each of the age and adiposity indices.

Conclusion and Implications

Quality of life of the urban-dweller Nigerians decreased with increasing body adiposity and age. This finding suggests the need to further educate the Nigerian public on the association between high body fat and poor health.

Key Words: body adiposity, quality of life, urban dwellers, Nigeria