Prevalence and lifestyle-related risk factors of obesity and unrecognized hypertension among bus drivers in Ghana

Obesity and hypertension are public health problems associated with cardiovascular events worldwide. Bus drivers, whose lifestyle is primarily sedentary and characterized by poor eating habits are at increased risk. This study determined the prevalence and lifestyle-related risk factors of obesity and hypertension among Inter-Regional Metromass Bus Drivers (IRMBDs) in Ghana. This cross-sectional study recruited 527 professional drivers from Metromass Bus stations in Accra and Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana. Structured questionnaires were administered to obtain socio-demographic and lifestyle characteristics from all participants. Anthropometric measurements including body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and blood pressure (BP) were determined. The prevalence of unrecognized hypertension was 38.7%. The prevalence of obesity using BMI, WC, and WHR as obesity indices were 19.0%, 19.9%, and 19.4%, respectively. Use of sleep inhibitors, long-duration sitting and eating late at night were independent risk factors for obesity, regardless of the obesity index used (p < 0.05). Physical inactivity, high caloric intake and eating at stressful periods were independent risk factors for obesity based on WC and WHR measurements (p < 0.05). Ageing, smoking history, alcoholic beverage intake, sleep inhibitor drug use, high calorie intake, long-duration sitting, eating late and under stressful conditions were independent risk factors for hypertension (p < 0.05). There is a high prevalence of unrecognized hypertension and obesity among IRMBDs which were associated with individual lifestyle and behaviours. Increased awareness through educational and screening programs will trigger lifestyle modifications that will reduce cardio-metabolic disease onset and offer clues for better disease predictive, preventive and personalized medicine.

Intrinsic brain abnormalities in irritable bowel syndrome and effect of anxiety and depression

This resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) study investigated intrinsic brain abnormalities in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and effect of anxiety and depression. Thirty IBS patients and 31 matched healthy controls underwent rs-fMRI scanning. Regional brain activity was evaluated by measuring the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and compared between IBS patients and healthy controls with a two-sample t-test. Areas with abnormal ALFF were further used as seeds in subsequent inter-regional functional connectivity (FC) analysis. Statistical analyses were also performed by including anxiety and depression as covariates to evaluate their effect. Compared to healthy controls, IBS patients showed decreased ALFF in several core default mode network regions (medial prefrontal cortex [MPFC], posterior cingulate cortex [PCC], bilateral inferior parietal cortices [IPC]), and in middle frontal cortex, right orbital part of the superior frontal gyrus (ORBsup), dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), and ventral anterior cingulated cortex (vACC), while they showed increased ALFF in bilateral posterior insula and cuneus. In addition, IBS patients revealed decreased inter-regional positive FC between MPFC and right ORBsup, between vACC and PCC, as well as decreased negative FC between MPFC and left posterior insula, while they showed increased negative FC between MPFC and cuneus. The inclusion of anxiety and depression as covariates abolished ALFF differences in dACC and vACC, but none of the FC differences.

IN CONCLUSION

IBS patients had disturbed intrinsic brain function. High levels of anxiety and depression in IBS patients could account for their decreased intrinsic brain activity in regions (the ACC) involved in affective processing.