The burden of underweight and overweight among women in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Authors

Yibeltal Tebekaw, World Health Organization
Charles Teller, George Washington University
Uriyoan Colón-Ramos, George Washington UniversityFollow

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

11-1-2014

Journal

BMC Public Health

Volume

Volume 14

Inclusive Pages

Article number 1126

Abstract

Background

Obesity and overweight are rising worldwide while underweight rates persist in low-income countries. The aim of this study was to examine changes in the prevalence of underweight and overweight/obesity among non-pregnant women aged 15-49 years, and its socio-demographic correlates in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Methods

The data are from 2000, 2005 and 2011 nationally representative Ethiopian Demographic and Health Surveys in Addis Ababa. The dependent variable was women’s nutritional status measured in terms of body mass index coded in binary outcomes to examine risk of being underweight (<18.5 kg/m² vs. ≥18.5 kg/m²) or overweight/obese (>25 kg/m² vs. ≤25 kg/m²). Logistic regression models were used to estimate the strength of associations.

Results

The prevalence of overweight/obesity increased significantly by 28%; while underweight decreased by 21% between 2000 and 2011. Specifically, the prevalence of urban obesity increased by 43.3% i.e., from 3.0% to 4.3% in about 15 years. Overall, more than one-third (34.7%) of women in Addis Ababa were either under or overweight. Women’s age and proxies for high socio-economic status (i.e. household wealth quintile, educational attainment, access to improved source of drinking water, and television watching) were positively associated with being overweight. The correlates of underweight were young age and proxies for low socio-economic status (i.e. low wealth quintile, limited access to improved source of water or toilet facility).

Conclusions

There is a need for policies to recognize the simultaneous public health problems of under and overnutrition, and for programs to target the distinct populations that suffer from these nutrition problems in this urban area.

Comments

Reproduced with permission of BioMed Central. BMC Public Health.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

APA Citation

Tebekaw, Y., Teller, C., Colon-Ramos, U. (2014). The burden of underweight and overweight among women in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. BMC Public Health, 14:1126.

Peer Reviewed

1

Open Access

1