Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jun 10;2(6):e0000515.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0000515. eCollection 2022.

Prevalence of overweight and obesity in Nigeria: Systematic review and meta-analysis of population-based studies

Innocent Ijezie Chukwuonye  1 , Kenneth Arinze Ohagwu  1   2 , Okechukwu Samuel Ogah  3 , Collins John  4 , Efosa Oviasu  5 , Ernest Ndukaife Anyabolu  6 , Ignatius Ugochukwu Ezeani  1 , Gabriel Uche Paschal Iloh  7 , Miracle Erinma Chukwuonye  7 , Caleb Ogechi Raphael  8 , Uwa Onwuchekwa  9 , Umezurike Hughes Okafor  10 , Clement Oladele  11 , Emmanuel Chukwuebuka Obi  1   11 , Chimezie Godswill Okwuonu  1 , Okechukwu Iheji  1 , Ogbonna Collins Nwabuko  12 , Martin Anazodo Nnoli  13 , Ikechi G Okpechi  14
Affiliations

Prevalence of overweight and obesity in Nigeria: Systematic review and meta-analysis of population-based studies

Innocent Ijezie Chukwuonye et al. PLOS Glob Public Health. .

Abstract

In Nigeria, several studies have assessed the prevalence of overweight/obesity with different reports. The purpose of this study was to use a systematic review and meta-analysis to analyze these overweight and obesity reports from different locations in Nigeria over the last ten years. In addition, there was a dearth of systematic reviews and meta-analyses on the prevalence, trends, and demographic characteristics of overweight and obesity in the country. This was a systematic review and meta-analysis of cross-sectional population-based studies among adult Nigerians on the prevalence of overweight/ obesity (defined by body mass index) published from January 2010 to December 2020. Relevant abstracts were scrutinized and articles that included adults of all age groups and were not restricted to a particular group of people (e.g. university community) were selected. Each article was scrutinized by more than 2 authors before selection. The prevalence of overweight/obesity among all participants, among men and among women in Nigeria and its 6 geopolitical zones was determined. All analyses were performed using STATA version 14 (Stata Corp. College Station, Texas, USA). Thirty-three studies were selected and the number of participants was 37,205. The estimated prevalence of overweight and obesity was 27.6%, and 14.5% respectively. The prevalence of overweight among men and among women was 26.3% and 28.3% respectively and, the prevalence of obesity among men and women was 10.9% and 23.0% respectively. The prevalence of overweight in the 6 geopolitical zones was Southeast 29.3%, Southwest 29.3%, South-south 27.9%, Northwest 27.2%, North-central 25.3%, Northeast 20.0% and obesity South-south 24.7%, Southeast 15.7%, Southwest 13.9%, Northwest 10.4%, North-central 10.2%, Northeast 6.4%. Egger's tests showed no statistically significant publication bias among the studies that reported the overweight and obesity prevalence respectively (p = 0.225, P 0.350). The prevalence of overweight/obesity in Nigeria is high. The southern geopolitical zones had a higher prevalence of overweight/obesity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. PRISMA flow diagram.
Graphical representation of the flow of citations reviewed in the course of the systematic review and meta-analysis. Abbreviation: Preferred items for systematic review and meta-analysis (PRISMA).
Fig 2
Fig 2. The prevalence of overweight among adults in Nigerians.
Fig 3
Fig 3
The prevalence of overweight in the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria.
Fig 4
Fig 4. The prevalence of obesity among adults in Nigeria.
Fig 5
Fig 5. The prevalence of obesity among adults in the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria.
Fig 6
Fig 6. Distribution of studies included in the prevalence of overweight among adults in Nigeria in the meta funnel plot.
Fig 7
Fig 7. Egger’s test for detection of publication bias for studies included in the prevalence of overweight among adults in Nigeria.
Fig 8
Fig 8. Distribution of studies included in the prevalence of obesity among adults in Nigeria in the meta funnel plot.
Fig 9
Fig 9. Egger’s test for detection of publication bias for studies included in the prevalence of obesity among adults in Nigeria.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Templin T, Cravo Oliveira Hashiguchi T, Thomson B, Dieleman J, Bendavid E (2019) The overweight and obesity transition from the wealthy to the poor in low- and middle-income countries: A survey of household data from 103 countries. PLoS Med 16(11): e1002968. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1002968 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC)–Africa Working Group. Trends in obesity and diabetes across Africa from 1980 to 2014: an analysis of pooled population-based studies Int J Epidemiol. 2017. Oct;46(5):1421–1432. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyx078 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. WHO. Media Centre [Accessed December 3, 2020]: Obesity and overweight 2016. Available at: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/.
    1. Kassie AM, Abate BB, Kassaw MW. Prevalence of overweight/obesity among the adult population in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ Open. 2020;10:e039200. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-039200 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. GBD 2016 Risk Factors Collaborators Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. Lancet. 2017;390:1345–1422. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32366-8 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources