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. 2022 Oct 5:10:976909.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.976909. eCollection 2022.

High prevalence of obesity among women in urban Haiti: Findings from a population-based cohort

Eliezer Dade  1 , Miranda Metz  2 , Jean Lookens Pierre  1 , Vanessa Rouzier  1   2 , Rodney Sufra  1 , Elizabeth Fox  3 , Fabyola Preval  1 , Stephano St-Preux  1 , Jean Ronald Zephir 2nd  1 , Wilson Ariste  1 , Rehana Rasul  4 , Shalom Sabwa  2 , Nicholas Roberts  2 , Marie Marcelle Deschamps  1 , Patrice Severe  1 , Daniel Fitzgerald  2   5 , Jean William Pape  1   2 , Lily Du Yan  2   5 , Margaret L McNairy  2   5
Affiliations

High prevalence of obesity among women in urban Haiti: Findings from a population-based cohort

Eliezer Dade et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Introduction: Obesity is associated with increased risk of non-communicable diseases and death and is increasing rapidly in low- and middle-income countries, including Haiti. There is limited population-based data on body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) and associated risk factors in Haiti. This study describes BMI and WC, and factors associated with obesity using a population-based cohort from Port-au-Prince.

Methods: Baseline sociodemographic and clinical data were collected from participants in the Haiti CVD Cohort Study between March 2019 and August 2021. Weight was categorized by BMI (kg/m2) with obesity defined as ≥30 kg/m2. Abdominal obesity was defined using WC cutoffs of ≥80 cm for women and ≥94 cm for men based on WHO guidelines. Sociodemographic and behavioral risk factors, including age, sex, educational attainment, income, smoking status, physical activity, fat/oil use, daily fruit/vegetable consumption, and frequency of fried food intake were assessed for their association with obesity using a Poisson multivariable regression.

Results: Among 2,966 participants, median age was 41 years (IQR: 28-55) and 57.6% were women. Median BMI was 24.0 kg/m2 (IQR: 20.9-28.1) and 508 (17.1%) participants were obese. Women represented 89.2% of the population with BMI ≥30 kg/m2. A total of 1,167 (68.3%) women had WC ≥80 cm and 144 (11.4%) men had WC ≥94 cm. BMI ≥30 kg/m2 was significantly more prevalent among women than men [PR 5.7; 95% CI: (4.3-7.6)], those 40-49 years compared to 18-29 years [PR 3.3; 95% CI: (2.4-4.6)], and those with income >10 USD per day compared to ≤1 USD [PR 1.3; 95% CI: (1.0-1.6)]. There were no significant associations with other health and behavioral risk factors.

Discussion: In Haiti, women have an alarming 6-fold higher obesity prevalence compared to men (26.5 vs. 4.3%) and 89.2% of participants with obesity were women. Abdominal obesity was high, at 44.3%. Haiti faces a paradox of an ongoing national food insecurity crises and a burgeoning obesity epidemic. Individual, social, and environmental drivers of obesity, especially among women, need to be identified.

Keywords: Haiti; cardiovascular disease; food insecurity; nutrition transition; obesity; overweight.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Distribution of BMI among male and female adults in the Haiti CVD Cohort (N = 2,966). Vertical lines represent cutoffs for WHO BMI categories at 18.5, 25, and 30 kg/m2.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Distribution of waist circumference among male and female adults in the Haiti CVD Cohort (N = 2,966). Lines represent cutoffs for abdominal obesity at 80 cm for females (red) and 94 cm for males (blue).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Prevalence of obesity by sociodemographic factors and heath behaviors among adults in the Haiti CVD COHORT (N = 2,966). Gray bars represent obesity prevalence by group, and black lines the standard error.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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