Impact of education on obesity and blood pressure in developing countries: A study on the Ibos of Nigeria

BACKGROUND: Increase in the prevalence of hypertension, obesity and obesity related diseases has become significant cause of disability and premature death in both developing and newly developed countries, with over bearing demand on national health budgets. AIM: To evaluate the impact of various levels of education on obesity and blood pressure. MATERIALS AND METHOD: 325 male and 254 female Nigerians of ages 20-80 years of the Ibo ethnicity through random sampling, were selected for this study. The participants were broken into three major groups based on their educational levels; primary, secondary and tertiary levels. systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP & DBP) levels, body mass index (BMI), waist hip ratio (WHR), waist height ratio (WHtR), waist circumference (WC),various skin fold thicknesses, and other anthropometric parameters were measured. RESULT: For all the indicators of subcutaneous fat, general obesity, and central obesity, largest mean deposition was noted to be highest in the lowest education group and least in the highest education group. Mean blood pressure parameters were also highest in the least education group. While fat deposition was noted to be highest in all the females of all the groups, the males showed larger mean BP values. Education was noted to have a significant inverse relationship with most of the fat indicators and blood pressure parameters and cardiovascular disease risk highest in the least education groups. CONCLUSION: Education showed a significant impact on obesity and blood pressure and could be one of the major tools to reduce the high prevalence of obesity, hypertension and other obesity associated diseases.