Palacky University Olomouc, Faculty of Science, Department of Development and Environmental Studies, Czech Republic.
Afr Health Sci. 2020 Mar;20(1):248-256. doi: 10.4314/ahs.v20i1.30.
Over a few decades obesity has become a major global health problem. Its prevalence worldwide has more than doubled since 1980. The situation is expected to worsen in the future, especially in the developing countries that experience nutrition transition due to economic growth. It contributes to reduction in malnutrition which supports an increase in obesity prevalence.
The aim of this study was to analyse the predictors of obesity in the region of East Africa.
Meta-analysis of existing studies was used in order to find the different risk factors and their significance in obesity development. Data extracted from 16 published academic research articles described the situation in East African countries. The significance of the effect of each variable was tested by means of an asymptotic chi-square test, or Fisher's exact (factorial) test and the risk ratios were calculated.
Based on the chi-square test and the risk ratios of the aggregated data, three risk factors were found to be significant in the development of obesity - gender, type of residence and socio-economic status. In East African countries, women are significantly more likely to be obese. Living in an urban area and socioeconomic status are also positively associated with obesity. Because of insufficient data three other risk factors did not prove to be of any significance - alcohol consumption, smoking and education level.
Conclusions of this meta-analysis confirm world trends but we also found results that are not in line with them (e.g. education). This meta-analysis confirms the huge existing research gap concerning obesity predictors in the East African region.
在过去几十年中，肥胖已成为一个主要的全球健康问题。自 1980 年以来，其在全球的流行率增加了一倍以上。预计未来情况会恶化，尤其是在经历经济增长导致营养转型的发展中国家。这种情况导致营养不良减少，从而支持肥胖流行率的增加。
本研究旨在分析东非地区肥胖的预测因素。
采用荟萃分析现有的研究，以寻找不同的风险因素及其在肥胖发展中的意义。从 16 篇已发表的学术研究文章中提取的数据描述了东非国家的情况。通过渐近卡方检验或 Fisher 的精确（析因）检验来测试每个变量的效应的显著性，并计算风险比。
基于卡方检验和汇总数据的风险比，发现三个风险因素在肥胖发展中具有显著意义——性别、居住类型和社会经济地位。在东非国家，女性肥胖的可能性明显更高。居住在城市地区和社会经济地位也与肥胖呈正相关。由于数据不足，其他三个风险因素没有证明有任何意义——饮酒、吸烟和教育水平。
这项荟萃分析的结论证实了全球趋势，但我们也发现了与这些趋势不一致的结果（例如，教育）。这项荟萃分析证实了东非地区肥胖预测因素存在巨大的现有研究差距。
