Assessment of Nutritional Status and Dietary Pattern of Diabetes Patients Attending Out-patient Clinics in Abuja Metropolis, Federal Capital Territory

Purpose: Nutritional status and dietary pattern of 120 randomly selected type-2 diabetic patients of both sexes (age range 18 and 65 years) attending medical outpatient clinics within Abuja metropolis were assessed.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey involving pre-tested and semi-structured questionnaires was used. Socio-demographic characteristics, anthropometric measurements, nutritional status and dietary pattern of the subjects were computed using standard methods.

Results: The result of socio-demographic characteristics indicates that 52% are males and 48% are females. Subjects with primary education constitute 4.2%, about half of them having either secondary (48.3%) or tertiary (47.5%) education. Most (80.8%) of them are married, 32.5% fell within a monthly income range of N50,000 - N100,000 (US $139.07 - $278.14). Anthropometric indices showed that the height of 75% of the respondents was 159.9 ± 7.0 cm, 100% of the respondents’ weight, hip circumference, waist-hip ratio and waist-height ratio are 72.69 ± 16.88 cm, 104.6 ± 12.4 cm, 0.94 ± 0.1 and 0.61 ± 0.1 respectively. The nutritional status of the subjects revealed that only 25% fell within the normal BMI range, with 1.7% being underweight, 20.8% overweight and half of them (52.5%) obese and out of which 27% are morbid. Their dietary patterns showed that the food mostly consumed include cereals, processed cereals, legumes, vegetables, fruits and meat. More than a quarter of the respondents totally avoid sugar in their diet, while 33.33% rarely eat sugar. Eggs (48.33%) have a moderate frequency of consumption.

Conclusion: This study concludes that the dietary practices of the respondents contribute to their poor nutritional status.