A cross-sectional study: prevalence of obesity and related factors (knowledge, perceptions, attitudes and behaviors) in women aged ≥18 years in Mogadishu Somalia

Although obesity is a well-researched topic in the developed world, it remains as an unknown public health problem in Africa, especially in sub-Saharan countries. This study aimed to understand the prevalence of obesity and related factors in women aged ≥18 years in Mogadishu, Somalia. A cross-sectional survey was conducted on a sample of 370 adult women aged ≥18 years, who were visitors or accompanying patients from the four most prominent and selected hospitals in Mogadishu. They were interviewed face to face regarding socio-demographic factors, physical activity, food consumption patterns, perceptions, and knowledge about overweight and obesity. Body Mass Index (BMI), hip and waist circumference were also measured. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 16.0. The study findings show that prevalence of overweight and obesity was relatively high among Somali adult women with rates of 31.4% and 25.4% respectively. There was a significant association between the study respondents' age category and BMI status (p=0.001). Obesity prevalence increased with age, the rate was lowest in the youngest age groups 18-22 and 23-27.Among the age group (18-27), married women were 5.5 times more likely to be obese than their single counterparts (p>0.001) .Among this same age group (18-27), obesity prevalence was significantly higher in women with lower education level than others (21.5% versus 6.5%, P=0.003).Carbohydrates were the most common food meals, with 70% of respondents reporting daily consumption of Somali bread (Anjero). Also, meat was preferred and eaten by the majority of Somali women, with 64% reporting daily consumption. While at least 41.4% of the participants reported current use of a cola type drink, 88,9% were daily tea users, most of whom having tea with excess sugar. In general, 6.2 % (n=23) of the participants were cigarette smokers. About 8.6% of the respondents chewed khat. Obesity appeared to be an important public health problem among adult women in Mogadishu for which age, marital status and education are some of the important predictive factors. Key words: Prevalence, Overweight, Obesity, BMI, Somali adult women