One in six Ghanaian women had concurrent anaemia and overweight or obesity

Researchers analysed survey-weighted data from 5,611 non-pregnant Ghanaian women aged 20–49 years with haemoglobin and body mass index measurements in the 2022 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey. The cross-sectional analysis estimated regional prevalence and assessed associations with socioeconomic and dietary characteristics using regression and marginal standardisation methods.

Anaemia prevalence was 39.77%, overweight or obesity prevalence was 50.22%, and 17.71% of participants had both conditions. Concurrent prevalence ranged from 6.10% in North East to 26.88% in Western Region. Compared with women aged 20–29 years, adjusted prevalence ratios were 1.58 for ages 30–39 and 2.08 for ages 40–49. The richest versus poorest household wealth quintile had an adjusted prevalence ratio of 2.84.

This analysis describes a substantial and geographically variable burden that may inform consideration of integrated nutrition and non-communicable disease services. Because the study is cross-sectional, associations do not establish causality. The authors also caution that the strong regional correlation between concurrent prevalence and overweight/obesity partly reflects how the combined condition was defined. No specific funding or competing interests were reported.