Physical activity and its relationship with obesity, hypertension and diabetes in urban and rural Cameroon

Objectives: To evaluate and compare physical activity patterns of urban and rural dwellers in Cameroon, and study their relationship with obesity, diabetes and hypertension. Methods: We studied 2465 subjects aged 15 y, recruited on the basis of a random sampling of households, of whom 1183 were urban dwellers from Yaoundé, the capital city of Cameroon and 1282 rural subjects from Bafut, a village of western Cameroon. They all had an interviewer-administered questionnaire for the assessment of their physical activity and anthropometric measurements, blood pressure and fasting blood glucose determination. The procedure was satisfactorily completed in 2325 (94.3%) subjects. Prevalences were age-adjusted and subjects compared according to their region, sex and age group. Results: Obesity was diagnosed in 17.1 and 3.0% urban and rural women, respectively (P