Background: There is evidence that students rating of health, obesity and hypertension are significantly related to gender, culture and ethnicity. Although, previous studies have suggested the need for regional and interregional comparison of health inequalities, however, literature indicated gaps in knowledge with regard to these variables. AIMs: This study explored health awareness, obesity and hypertension among university students in Nigeria by gender and ethnicity. Method: The study was cross sectional. Full time university students were recruited from six universities within the major three ethnic groups in Nigeria. Data collection was with an anonymous questionnaire. 1549 responses were valid, while 563 responses were rejected for missing data especially gender and ethnicity. The variables examined were, health awareness (general health, keeping eye on your health, seen a general practitioner (GP) recently, regular medication) obesity and hypertension. Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests were conducted. Results: Irrespective of ethnicity, more females than males saw their GP and had more regular medications. Further examination of the data, suggested that more Hausa students had seen their GP. Hausa females and Igbo males reported regular medications than other groups, while the Yoruba ethnic group saw their GP less frequently. More males were overweight or obese than females. More Yoruba males and Hausa females were overweight or obese. The study also indicated that over 90% of students reported normal blood pressure, and both by gender and ethnicity, there was no significant differences in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Conclusion: The findings indicated that the health status of female students in the sample was poorer than those of male students; with female students from the Hausa ethnic group, demonstrating the worst possible health outcome.
| Published in | World Journal of Public Health (Volume 2, Issue 4) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.wjph.20170204.12 |
| Page(s) | 131-143 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Mental Health, Cognitive Health, Health Status, Gender Health Inequality, Ethnic Health Inequality, Health Evaluation, Health Evidence
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APA Style
Ezenna Michael Agwu, Stephen Draper, Mark De Ste Croix, Regina Egimot-Nwadiaro, Chizoba Roseline Onuoha. (2017). Health Rating, Obesity and Hypertension Among University Students in Nigeria by Gender and Ethnicity. World Journal of Public Health, 2(4), 131-143. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wjph.20170204.12
ACS Style
Ezenna Michael Agwu; Stephen Draper; Mark De Ste Croix; Regina Egimot-Nwadiaro; Chizoba Roseline Onuoha. Health Rating, Obesity and Hypertension Among University Students in Nigeria by Gender and Ethnicity. World J. Public Health 2017, 2(4), 131-143. doi: 10.11648/j.wjph.20170204.12
AMA Style
Ezenna Michael Agwu, Stephen Draper, Mark De Ste Croix, Regina Egimot-Nwadiaro, Chizoba Roseline Onuoha. Health Rating, Obesity and Hypertension Among University Students in Nigeria by Gender and Ethnicity. World J Public Health. 2017;2(4):131-143. doi: 10.11648/j.wjph.20170204.12
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Download@article{10.11648/j.wjph.20170204.12,
author = {Ezenna Michael Agwu and Stephen Draper and Mark De Ste Croix and Regina Egimot-Nwadiaro and Chizoba Roseline Onuoha},
title = {Health Rating, Obesity and Hypertension Among University Students in Nigeria by Gender and Ethnicity},
journal = {World Journal of Public Health},
volume = {2},
number = {4},
pages = {131-143},
doi = {10.11648/j.wjph.20170204.12},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wjph.20170204.12},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.wjph.20170204.12},
abstract = {Background: There is evidence that students rating of health, obesity and hypertension are significantly related to gender, culture and ethnicity. Although, previous studies have suggested the need for regional and interregional comparison of health inequalities, however, literature indicated gaps in knowledge with regard to these variables. AIMs: This study explored health awareness, obesity and hypertension among university students in Nigeria by gender and ethnicity. Method: The study was cross sectional. Full time university students were recruited from six universities within the major three ethnic groups in Nigeria. Data collection was with an anonymous questionnaire. 1549 responses were valid, while 563 responses were rejected for missing data especially gender and ethnicity. The variables examined were, health awareness (general health, keeping eye on your health, seen a general practitioner (GP) recently, regular medication) obesity and hypertension. Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests were conducted. Results: Irrespective of ethnicity, more females than males saw their GP and had more regular medications. Further examination of the data, suggested that more Hausa students had seen their GP. Hausa females and Igbo males reported regular medications than other groups, while the Yoruba ethnic group saw their GP less frequently. More males were overweight or obese than females. More Yoruba males and Hausa females were overweight or obese. The study also indicated that over 90% of students reported normal blood pressure, and both by gender and ethnicity, there was no significant differences in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Conclusion: The findings indicated that the health status of female students in the sample was poorer than those of male students; with female students from the Hausa ethnic group, demonstrating the worst possible health outcome.},
year = {2017}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Health Rating, Obesity and Hypertension Among University Students in Nigeria by Gender and Ethnicity AU - Ezenna Michael Agwu AU - Stephen Draper AU - Mark De Ste Croix AU - Regina Egimot-Nwadiaro AU - Chizoba Roseline Onuoha Y1 - 2017/09/28 PY - 2017 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wjph.20170204.12 DO - 10.11648/j.wjph.20170204.12 T2 - World Journal of Public Health JF - World Journal of Public Health JO - World Journal of Public Health SP - 131 EP - 143 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2637-6059 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wjph.20170204.12 AB - Background: There is evidence that students rating of health, obesity and hypertension are significantly related to gender, culture and ethnicity. Although, previous studies have suggested the need for regional and interregional comparison of health inequalities, however, literature indicated gaps in knowledge with regard to these variables. AIMs: This study explored health awareness, obesity and hypertension among university students in Nigeria by gender and ethnicity. Method: The study was cross sectional. Full time university students were recruited from six universities within the major three ethnic groups in Nigeria. Data collection was with an anonymous questionnaire. 1549 responses were valid, while 563 responses were rejected for missing data especially gender and ethnicity. The variables examined were, health awareness (general health, keeping eye on your health, seen a general practitioner (GP) recently, regular medication) obesity and hypertension. Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests were conducted. Results: Irrespective of ethnicity, more females than males saw their GP and had more regular medications. Further examination of the data, suggested that more Hausa students had seen their GP. Hausa females and Igbo males reported regular medications than other groups, while the Yoruba ethnic group saw their GP less frequently. More males were overweight or obese than females. More Yoruba males and Hausa females were overweight or obese. The study also indicated that over 90% of students reported normal blood pressure, and both by gender and ethnicity, there was no significant differences in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Conclusion: The findings indicated that the health status of female students in the sample was poorer than those of male students; with female students from the Hausa ethnic group, demonstrating the worst possible health outcome. VL - 2 IS - 4 ER -
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