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Table 2 Characteristics of the study participants by college

From: Prevalence and risk factors of obesity among undergraduate student population in Ghana: an evaluation study of body composition indices

Variable

CABE

(n = 118, 11.5%)

CANR

(n = 81, 7.9%)

CoHSS

(n = 150, 14.6%)

CoE

(n = 114, 11.1%)

CoHS

(n = 407, 39.6%)

CoS

(n = 158, 15.4%)

p-value

Gender

       

Female

44 (37.3)

46 (56.8)

105 (70.0)

47 (41.2)

243 (59.7)

89 (56.3)

< 0.001

Male

74 (62.1)

35 (43.2)

45 (30.0)

67 (58.8)

164 (40.3)

69 (43.7)

 

Age (years)*

20.3 ± 2.0

19.9 ± 1.9

20.0 ± 1.9

20.0 ± 2.0

20.1 ± 1.9

19.7 ± 1.6

0.141

< 20 years

45 (38.1)

36 (44.4)

68 (45.3)

48 (42.1)

165 (40.5)

75 (47.5)

0.581

≥ 20 years

68 (57.6)

45 (55.6)

82 (54.7)

66 (57.9)

242 (58.5)

83 (52.5)

 

Year of Study

      

0.459

1st

47 (39.8)

31 (38.3)

52 (34.7)

41 (36.0)

145 (35.6)

63 (39.9)

 

2nd

22 (18.6)

18 (22.2)

29 (19.3)

25 (21.9)

105 (25.8)

28 (17.7)

 

3rd

24 (20.3)

14 (17.3)

31 (20.7)

22 (19.3)

94 (23.1)

36 (22.8)

 

4th

25 (21.2)

18 (22.2)

38 (25.3)

26 (22.8)

63 (15.1)

31 (19.6)

 

Alcohol intake (yes)

11 (9.3)

8 (9.9)

12 (8.0)

9 (7.8)

13 (3.2)

11 (7.0)

0.039

Smoking (yes)

3 (2.5)

2 (2.5)

3 (2.0)

2 (1.8)

4 (1.0)

2 (1.3)

0.796

Regular exercise

       

Never

16 (13.6)

8 (9.9)

11 (7.3)

21 (18.4)

127 (31.2)

29 (18.4)

< 0.001

Rarely

42 (35.6)

25 (30.9)

54 (36.0)

33 (28.9)

100 (24.6)

58 (36.7)

 

Sometimes

46 (39.0)

34 (42.0)

62 (41.3)

42 (36.8)

138 (33.9)

57 (36.1)

 

Almost everyday

14 (11.9)

14 (17.3)

23 (15.3)

18 (15.8)

42 (10.3)

14 (8.9)

 

Family history dx.

       

Hypertension

17 (14.4)

11 (13.3)

21 (14.0)

25 (21.9)

77 (18.9)

30 (19.0)

0.387

Diabetes

25 (21.2)

17 (21.0)

31 (20.7)

25 (21.9)

73 (17.9)

37 (23.4)

0.755

Obesity

12 (12.4)

7 (10.1)

14 (9.3)

11 (12.6)

26 (11.2)

12 (9.5)

0.933

Measurements

       

Height (cm) *

170.2 ± 9.0

167.2 ± 7.5

164.9 ± 9.2

168.8 ± 9.5

165.6 ± 8.4

166.8 ± 8.7

< 0.001

Weight (Kg) *

65.3 ± 10.5

63.2 ± 8.9

63.9 ± 11.4

66.1 ± 11.2

63.2 ± 10.1

64.0 ± 10.4

0.110

WC (cm) *

73.9 ± 7.4

73.0 ± 5.9

73.0 ± 8.0

73.6 ± 8.2

72.6 ± 7.1

72.7 ± 6.9

0.499

BMI (Kg/m2) *

22.6 ± 3.3

22.7 ± 3.5

23.5 ± 3.7

23.2 ± 3.3

23.1 ± 3.6

23.0 ± 3.6

0.330

RFM (cm/cm) *

18.4 ± 4.5

19.0 ± 4.5

19.8 ± 4.5

18.5 ± 4.7

19.1 ± 4.8

18.8 ± 4.7

0.152

TPBF%^

22.0 ± 11.5

24.4 ± 11.1

28.2 ± 10.5

23.9 ± 10.3

25.8 ± 11.9

25.1 ± 11.9

< 0.001

Visceral fat ^

4.0 ± 2.1

3.7 ± 1.6

4.2 ± 1.7

4.4 ± 2.3

4.0 ± 1.9

4.0 ± 1.8

0.247

  1. * Variables are presented as mean and standard deviations and compared using a one-way analysis of variance; ^ values are presented as means but compared using Kruskal-Willi’s test. All other variables are presented with count and corresponding proportions and compared using the Chi-square test. Multiple comparison analysis with Bonferroni correction was performed when the probability value was < 0.05
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