Nutritional status and Cardiometabolic health among adolescents; findings from southwestern Nigeria

Abstract Background Obesity has been associated with an increased risk for cardio-metabolic diseases. The prevalence of obesity among adolescents is increasing worldwide, including Nigeria, but only little data exist on the relationship of nutritional status with cardio-metabolic health among adolescents in Nigeria. This study therefore investigated the relationship of nutrition status, raised blood pressure, glucose intolerance and risk for metabolic diseases among adolescents in southwestern Nigeria. Methods This was a cross-sectional study conducted among 313 in-school adolescents in Ile-Ife, southwestern Nigeria. The respondents were selected using multi-stage sampling technique, and data were collected using pre-tested structured questionnaires. Anthropometric, blood pressure and random blood glucose measurements were done using standard protocols. Nutritional assessment was done using the World Health Organization (WHO) 2007 reference. Pre-hypertension and hypertension were measured using percentiles for gender, age and height. Analysis was done using IBM SPSS and the level of significance was set at p ≤ 0.05. Results The mean age of the respondents was 14.4 ± 2.0 years. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 10.2%, and it was significantly higher among females (12.5%) than males (7.0%). The prevalence of systolic and diastolic pre-hypertension was 10.9 and 11.5% respectively, while the prevalence for systolic and diastolic hypertension were 14.4 and 8.6% respectively. Using WHtR to assess cardio-metabolic risk, 7.3% of the respondents were at risk. There were statistically significant relationships between BMI, WHtR and blood pressure levels (< 0.05). Conclusions The prevalence of overweight/obesity among the adolescents was relatively high, and this was significantly associated with elevated blood pressure and increased risk for cardio-metabolic diseases. There is need for more interest and intervention by stakeholders into the cardio-metabolic health of adolescents in Nigeria.