EFFECT OF GENDER VARIATIONS ON BODY MASS INDEX AND QUALITY OF LIFE OF OBESE ADULTS ATTENDING AMINU KANO TEACHING HOSPITAL, KANO, NIGERIA

Abstract

Obesity is defined as "an excessive deposit of body fat (BF) which may result in adverse metabolic consequences, may impair short- and long-term physical health and create psychological disorders which should not be overlooked" The aim of the study is to assess the effects of Gender variations on Body mass Index and quality of life of obese adults attending Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano. Quasi-experimental research designs were used in the current study which is the hypothesis testing research design that tests the hypotheses of causal relationships between variables under Study. Stratified sampling technique was used in this study. The target populations were stratified based on demographic characteristic of gender into non-overlapping sub-populations or groups of males and females which formed the sampling frame of all the list of obese adult patients. Simple random sampling were used to select the sample from the strata. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 20 was used to compute mean and standard deviation, percentages, chi square, t-test, F-test and ANOVA. The result shows that 40.40% within 30-40 years, follow by 41-50years which represent 36.70% for study group, also followed by 31.25% within 41-50years for control group. 62.5% were female for studied groups and 40.8% were males for control group. 81.25% of studied groups were married, 68.75% were professionals, 56.25% attended post-secondary education and 81.25% of studied groups were urban settlers. 37.1% of the studied groups belongs to Obese class III with 35.95±7.5. The means of weight of physical functioning is 36.3±4.8 after intervention. Based on the findings from the present study, quality of life had improved with physical role functioning of 40.6±25.0 before intervention and 33.8±10.3 after intervention, furthermore, emotional role functioning of 35.4±20.1 before intervention and 21.8±6.9 after intervention. it can be concluded that obesity is more common among higher group with female preponderance and with a link with rural-urban migration and there is an observed cause and effect relationship between obesity and quality of life as behavior influences individual choices of decision towards maintaining optimal health.