Anthropometric differences among natives of Abuja living in urban and rural communities: correlations with other cardiovascular risk factors

Document Type

Article

Department

Internal Medicine (East Africa)

Abstract

The growing prevalence of overweight and obesity worldwide has driven an increase in the cases of diabetes and hypertension-which are the major cardiovascular risk factors especially in the developing world [1]. The consequences of this surge are especially felt in developing countries where the old scourge of malnutrition; underweight and infectious diseases already present a ubiquitous health challenge [1]. An explanation for this apparent trend has been hypothesized to be the nutritional, demographic, epidemiological, and socioeconomic transitions occurring in many developing countries [2]. Paradoxically, the shift in the pattern of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is occurring at a faster rate than it did in the industrialized regions of the world half a century ago [3]. While it is generally accepted that economic development is by and large positively associated with human health [2], ample evidence suggest that this is not always the case, either over the short-term, in relation to booms and recessions [4–6], or over the long-term [7, 8].

Rural–urban differences in obesity, the metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is seen in most developing countries [9]. Whereas overweight and obesity in underprivileged people in developed countries is substantial, in developing countries rural-based people are mostly lean and have low prevalence of T2DM and cardiovascular diseases (CVD). However, underprivileged people residing in urban areas (mostly rural to urban migrants) show increasing prevalence of overweight/obesity and other cardiovascular risk factors [10]. Although epidemiological surveys in Nigeria have documented the rise in incidence of overweight, obesity as well as the metabolic syndrome as we adopt western dietary and lifestyle pattern [11, 12], fewer comparative studies exist to provide evidence for the increasing effect of urbanization [13–15].

Created from three states in 1976, the capital city of the federal republic of Nigeria now has a growth rate four times higher than the average growth rate of other capital cities in Africa [16]. This high growth rate is attributed to many factors among which are; the huge attraction of Abuja due to its combination of excellent infrastructures and facilities [16]. The natives of the present geographical location of the federal capital territory (FCT) Abuja are known as Gbagis, and their main occupation was farming [17]. Following the creation of the FCT, there were several attempts by the government to internalize the natives into the urban life that the new capital offered. This gave birth to several satellite towns around the capital with consequent exodus of some Gbagis to these settlements. An example is Kubwa, a popular satellite town which was quite an enviable place and well equipped with basic amenities. When many of the natives decided to sell their houses to other Nigerians who moved into Abuja, a considerable number relocated back into undeveloped areas of the city, while some joined their kinsmen in Garki village which has the highest population of natives [17].

In the light of the foregoing, we hypothesize that the aboriginal population of the federal capital territory (FCT), Abuja, Nigeria presently living in urban area have developed more cardiovascular risks and higher anthropometric indices compared to their counterpart still living in rural settlements. This study aimed therefore at defining rural–urban differences in anthropometric parameters in two Nigerian communities of the same ancestral origin and to determine the cardiovascular risk correlates of these anthropometric measurements.

Comments

This work was published before the author joined Aga Khan University.

Publication (Name of Journal)

BMC research notes

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1186/1756-0500-6-123

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