Gender comparisons of adolescents' anthropometry and blood pressure in Osun State, South-Western Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Adolescents are in their formative years, and they experience several changes including anthropometric changes. Significant weight gain occurs in adolescence, and increasingly, obesity and consequent increase in blood pressure (BP) are found in adolescents. OBJECTIVE: This study compared anthropometric and BP measurements in male and female adolescents. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of 1000 adolescents (510 males and 490 females) were selected by multi-stage sampling from eight secondary schools. Pertinent information was collected with the aid of a structured questionnaire, anthropometric and blood pressure measurements. Data were analyzed using SPSS 16.0 version, and the means of anthropometric indices and blood pressures in males and females were compared using independent t-test. RESULTS: The mean age for male respondents was 13.83 years (SD 2.12) and for females 13.62 (SD 1.96). Generally, anthropometric indices gradually increased from the lower ages to the higher ages in both males and females. The mean height was the same for both males and females (1.54 m), while the mean weight, body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference were significantly higher in females than in males (p<0.05). A significantly higher proportion of females compared with males were overweight (10.2%, 5.3%) and obese (3.9%, 2.0%), respectively. The overall prevalence of "hypertension," was 4.1% and more females (70.7%) had "hypertension" than males (29.3%). CONCLUSION: Females were heavier and constituted the greater proportion of those who had elevated BP. Adequate attention needs to be given to the challenging problems of overweight and obesity to forestall development of hypertension in adolescents, especially female adolescents.