PREVALENCE OF OBESITY AMONG MALE AND FEMALE HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS IN IJEBU-ODE AND IJEBU EAST LOCAL GOVERNMENT (EDUCATION PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS)
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the study
Obesity has become a major public health concern worldwide and it is now recognized by major health promotion bodies as a major cardiovascular risk factor as cardiovascular disease continues to become a major cause of morbidity and mortality even in the developing countries where it has been estimated that up to 75% of the expected increase in the cardiovascular disease burden will come by 2020 (Adebiyi, 2006). The increase in obesity worldwide will have an important impact on the global incidence of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus (Ifatade, 2009). Obesity is excessive accumulation of adipose tissue, while overweight represents a body weight exceeding the normal for a person’s gender, age, height and build. The National Cholesterol Education program (Adult Treatment Panel III) recognized obesity, physical inactivity, and atherogenic diet as major risk factors for Cardiovascular disease (Manson; Colditz, and Stanmper, 2009)
In the opinion of Opadijo Akande and Jimoh(2004), obesity is associated with increased morbidity and mortality due to hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and cardiovascular and renal diseases. The prevalence of obesity and obesity-related disease is increasing worldwide, the prevalence of obesity increases with age predominantly in men and scarcely in women. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that obesity cost the United States at least $147 billion in 2008. Consequently, strategies for preventing and treating obesity have become political as well as health-care issues.
In both adults and children, obesity rates have increased over the past several decades in the United States (Koh, 2008). Obesity rates have increased in both genders, and among all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups. Approximately 68% of US adults are either overweight or obese which could be accounted for by their lack of physical exercise and hefty fatty constituted diets they consume. (Cali, 2005). Based on National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data, the prevalence of obesity in 2007–2008 was 32.2% among adult men and 35.5% among adult women (Steinberg, 2004). Among adults, the prevalence of obesity increases with age in men. The prevalence of obesity among African Americans is approximately1.5 times in whites, and Mexican Americans have an intermediate prevalence (Meyers, 2007). During the past three decades, prevalence rates of childhood and adolescent obesity (body mass index (BMI) >95th percentile for age and sex) have more than doubled in the United States. In 2006, 16.3% of children and adolescents were reportedly obese, and approximately32% of children are either overweight or obese. Childhood obesity frequently persists into adulthood, with up to 80% of obese children reported to become obese adults (Serdula, 2003). Among adolescents, the prevalence of obesity is approximately twice as high among African Americans and Mexican Americans as among non-Hispanic whites (Cali, 2008).
