Knowledge of obesity among the staff of the international institute of tropical agriculture, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Obesity is defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to health. The health implication of obesity is of growing significance in public health especially in the developing nations like Nigeria and knowledge is the most powerful weapon to prevent a disorder such as obesity. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the extent of the problem of obesity and people’s awareness about causes, health implications and complications of obesity. Method: A cross-sectional descriptive survey was carried out and 206 employees were selected randomly proportional to the staff categories. A pre-tested structured questionnaire was used to obtain socio-demographic data and knowledge of obesity. The weight and height of the subjects were measured. Results: A total of 206 subjects were recruited with male to female ratio of 1.9:1. The senior and junior staff constituted 45.1% and 54.9% of the subjects respectively. The overall prevalence of obesity among the subjects was 12.1% (9.7% for male; 16.7% for female, p = 0.29) and almost two-third of the subjects (64.6%) had good overall knowledge of obesity. The prevalence of obesity among the subjects who had poor overall knowledge of obesity was 25.0% while it was 9.0% among the subjects who had good overall knowledge of obesity (p = 0.30). Conclusion: It was discovered from this study that majority of the subjects had good overall knowledge of obesity and that the prevalence of obesity was lower among the subjects who had good knowledge of obesity.