Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity among Pharmacy Students in a University in Benin City, Nigeria

Purpose: To identify the prevalence as well as determine gender differences in overweight and obesity among undergraduate pharmacy students of the University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria.
Methods: Undergraduate pharmacy students (n = 172) of University of Benin, aged 18 years and above, were recruited for the study. Body mass index, (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and waist/hip ratio (WHR) were measured using standard methods. Blood pressure (BP), and fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels were also measured.
Results: The prevalence of overweight and obesity in the sample based on the three anthropometric indices yielded different rates as follows: BMI (10.5 and 1.2 %), WHR (8.1 and 2.3 %), WC (6.9 and 1.7 %), respectively. WHR and WC, but not BMI, reported higher prevalence of overweight among females than males. Only 4 (2.3 %) and 1 (0.58 %) of the subjects had high BP (≥ 140/90 mm Hg) and FBG (> 126 mg/dl).
Conclusion: The prevalence of overweight and obesity as well as hypertension and diabetes among pharmacy students sampled is low. Among the overweight and obese, there was no gender difference with regard to BMI. However, WHR and WC revealed that more females compared to males were overweight or obese.

Keywords
Overweight; Obesity; Body mass index; Waist-hip-ratio; Anthropometric index; Hypertension; Diabetes