Assessment of BMI and Socio-demographic Status of the People Living with HIV/AIDS in Abeokuta, Nigeria

Background: AIDS is most dreaded, most feared and still most talked about disease in the world today. Due to lack of cure for HIV/AIDs, the immune system of infected patients is under constant exposure to infections which adversely affect the nutritional status and immune competence of the subjects in questions. Objective: The study therefore investigated the body mass index and socio-demographic status of the people living with HIV/AIDS [PLWHA] in Abeokuta, Nigeria. Subjects and methods: Convenience sampling technique was used to select two hundred respondents who made themselves available at the time of data collection. A pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect information on socio-demographic characteristics. Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) Version 15.0 was used for analysis. Results: The body mass index revealed that 35.5% had normal body weight, 7.5% had chronic energy deficiency, 19.0% were moderately thin, 21.5% were mildly underweight. The prevalence of pre-obesity was 12.5% and the remaining 4% represented grade1 of obesity. Socio-demographic characteristics showed that, females were the dominant group (67%), while the remaining 33% were males. Out of the respondents, 123 (61.5%) were married, 46 (23.0%) were single and the remaining 31 (15.5%) respondents were divorced. Conclusion: It was recommended that there was need for nutrition intervention programme to reduce or reverse energy deficiencies among the PLWHA in Abeokuta. Key words: HIV/AIDS, BMI, social demographic status