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Socio‐demographic and geographic variation of overweight and obesity in Uganda
Author(s) -
Christoph Mary J,
Turi Kedir N,
GrigsbyToussaint Diana S
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.27.1_supplement.366.6
Subject(s) - overweight , obesity , socioeconomic status , medicine , body mass index , population , environmental health , demography , rural area , geography , geospatial analysis , cartography , endocrinology , pathology , sociology
Overweight, obesity, and related chronic diseases are understudied in sub‐Saharan Africa, and even fewer studies have observed geographic correlates, necessitating an investigation of geospatial population patterns. We used ArcGIS 10.1 to investigate clustering of overweight and obesity in rural and urban areas of Uganda for 2,420 adult females and children, based on aggregated latitude and longitude data from the 2011 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (DHS). We further examined socioeconomic factors in STATA 10.0 to show spatial heterogeneity of overweight and obesity. Overweight and obesity clustered in larger cities, and were significantly correlated with high education level and wealth index; further, 52.9% of overweight women lived in urban areas, compared to just 26.8% of normal‐weight females. Overweight or obese women were also more likely to have overweight children (21.8%) than their normal or under‐weight counterparts (16.6%). Our results suggest that there is a significant burden of chronic disease in Uganda, particularly in the capital and in wealthier regions of the country. This study underscores the necessity of using geostatistical tools to elucidate the etiology of overweight, obesity, and the increasing rates of chronic disease in Sub‐Saharan Africa. This research was supported by the UIUC Illinois Transdisciplinary Obesity Prevention Program. Grant Funding Source : Illinois Transdisciplinary Obesity Prevention Program