Prevalence of abdominal obesity in senior civil servants in Asaba, Nigeria.

Objective :To study the prevalence of abdominal obesity [using waist circumference measurement], in senior civil servants in Asaba, Nigeria.Subjects and Method: Two hundred apparently healthy civil servants were recruited for the study by stratified random sampling. They consisted of98 males and 102 females. Their biodata was recorded and their waist circumference was measured and recorded.Results: Age of subjects ranged from 29 to 58 years, with a mean of 41.59 ± 8.22 years. Male: Female ratio was 1:1.04. Male subjects had a meanage of 44.06 ± 8.7 years, while that of females was 38.4 ± 6.8 years.Prevalence of abdominal obesity in the study population was 47%. Prevalence of obesity in female subjects was 68.8%, while in males it was 24.5%.This study found that the obesity prevalence increased progressively with age in both male and female subjects.Conclusion: There is high prevalence of obesity in professionals in Asaba, Nigeria