A Pilot Study on Pre-diabetes and Associated Central Obesity among Students of University of Guyana, Guyana
Dakari Jordan
Faculty of Health Science, University of Guyana, Turkeyen Campus, Georgetown, Guyana.
Dacia Simpson
Faculty of Health Science, University of Guyana, Turkeyen Campus, Georgetown, Guyana.
Rajini Kurup *
Faculty of Health Science, University of Guyana, Turkeyen Campus, Georgetown, Guyana.
Audrey Anderson
Faculty of Health Science, University of Guyana, Turkeyen Campus, Georgetown, Guyana.
Cecil Boston
Faculty of Health Science, University of Guyana, Turkeyen Campus, Georgetown, Guyana.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the incidence of pre-diabetes and associated central obesity among sampled University of Guyana students.
Methods: The study was a cross sectional study where a questionnaire was distributed to each participant to assess predisposing risk factors. Anthropometric measurements like BMI and HbA1c were used to ascertain if the participant was overweight or obese. Nycocard® HbA1c test kit was used for collecting HbA1c. Data was analyzed using SPSS 20.0 to calculate descriptive statistics and analysis of variance were used to investigate the research questions. A p value of <0.05 was considered to be significant for all analysis.
Results: A total of seventy-four students were randomly selected for the study. The findings of this study revealed pre-diabetes incidence of 40.5% and a weak positive correlation between central obesity and pre-diabetes, with r-values of 0.25 (males), 0.27 (females) & 0.26 (overall).
Conclusion: There was a weak association between central obesity and pre-diabetes incidence. Therefore, a large follow up study would be important to understand association between pre-diabetes and central obesity and to create nationwide awareness or development of an operational policy/strategy/action plan to reduce overweight.
Keywords: Incidence, pre-diabetes, central obesity, type 2 diabetes.