Inter-relationship among abdominal obesity cardiorespiratory fitness, and body image attitude among menopausal women in Oyo state Nigeria

Abstract

Introduction Abdominal obesity is the accumulation of excess adipose tissue in the abdomen. Hormonal changes in menopausal women may lead to physical inactivity which results in decreased cardiorespiratory fitness and increase in incidence of obesity. Cardiorespiratory fitness is one of the strongest predictors of cardiovascular health and longevity and a useful health indicator. The interrelationship among abdominal obesity, cardiorespiratory fitness and body image attitude among menopausal women was investigated in this study. Method A cross-sectional survey method was adopted, using purposive sampling to recruit women from Iseyin Local Government Area, Oyo State, Nigeria. Premenopausal, perimenopausal and postmenopausal women had their abdominal obesity, cardiorespiratory fitness and body image attitude assessed using waist circumference, six minute-walk test and multidimensional body-self relations questionnaire (MBSRQ) respectively. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics with ᾳ = 0.05. Results Participants comprised 381 women aged 47.1±8.6 years, they had low mean estimated maximum oxygen consumption of 10.81±1.77ml/kg/min. The postmenopausal women had the highest median score of abdominal obesity of 96.0 (20.0) cm. A positive and significant weak correlation of abdominal obesity with cardiorespiratory fitness was observed among the premenopausal (r=0.156; p=0.050) women while negative and non-significant correlations were observed in both the perimenopausal and postmenopausal groups. Cardiorespiratory fitness and abdominal obesity exhibited varied correlations with body image attitude variables of menopausal women. Conclusion Cardiorespiratory fitness and abdominal obesity were somewhat indirectly correlated in the older menopausal women. They also exhibited variable correlations toward body image.