Evaluation of the impact of certain socio-demographic and sociocultural factors on the weight of obese adults in the city of Brazzaville

Introduction: Obesity is excess of fat, often resulting from an imbalance between daily calorie intake and energy expenditure. It affects all parts of the globe, both genders and all age groups, and poses a threat to health. In the Republic of Congo, the prevalence of obesity increased from 7.7% to 9.6% between 2010 and 2016. Obesity is clearly a multifactorial disease resulting from interactions of several factors.

Objective: to study the influence of certain socio-demographic and socio-cultural factors on weight, but also the level of knowledge of obesity among obese adults.

Material and method: A descriptive cross-sectional survey was carried out using a questionnaire, associated with anthropometric measurements of obese (adult) people encountered in all districts of the city of Brazzaville. 

Results: This study shows that there are more obese women (78%) than obese men (22%).  The most common type of obesity is type I (50%).  It appears that obesity is age-related and hereditary.  The sector of activity has an influence on weight, unlike income. Obesity is promoted by sedentary lifestyle and poor eating habits. Finally, obesity is very poorly known by participants.

Conclusion: this study allowed us to show the influence of some socio-demographic and socio-cultural factors on weight.