Incidence of Obesity in Kalabari Kingdom

Background: Information on the incidence of Obesity in western countries has been documented, whereas there is paucity of information in the incidence of obesity in Africa and in Nigeria in particular. This study was done to examine the rate of obesity among men and women in Kalabari between the ages of 12 to 65 with different communities taken as case study. Materials and Methods: The Body Mass Index (BMI) which is a ratio of weight per height square of a total of three hundred and four (304) subjects was studied. One hundred and eighty-seven (187) subjects were females while one hundred and seventeen (117) subjects were males. Obesity was measured by body mass index (BMI) with relative weight and height. BMI less than 18.5 was considered as underweight. BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 was considered as normal weight. BMI greater than or equal to 30 was considered as obese. Results and Discussion: Obesity increased in all sex and age groups from 12 to 65 years. Of the 104 subjects studied, 149 were considered to be obese. Relating with age group, increase in obesity was generally seen to be more in females than in males. The rate of obesity is highest in women between the ages of 31-40 with a percentage of 18.79, while the rate of obesity is highest in men between the ages of 51-65 with a percentage of 12.75. Conclusion: Body mass index, occupational background, eating habit and cultural practice (fattening room practice) have significant impact on increase of obesity.