Dietary Pattern, Physical Activity Level And Prevalence Of Pre-Diabetes Among Teaching Staff Of Michael Okpara University Of Agriculture, Umudike.:- Orji, Favour C

ABSTRACT In Nigeria, pre-diabetes is becoming a significant public health issue, with studies reporting prevalence rates ranging from 10% to 30% depending on the population group studied. A cross-sectional study design was used; data for analysis were obtained through structured questionnaire distributed randomly to the teaching staff. One hundred and sixty (160) responses from the questionnaire were gathered and analyzed using descriptive statistics and correlation. The result showed that; most (40.76%) ofthe teaching staff age ranged from 36 to 45 years, (40.6%) were Master of Science Degree holder holders, (61.3%) eats three meal per day, (40.6%) eats processed and fast food, (74.4%) ofthe teaching staff skipped meal and 36.3% ate snack in between meal weekly. Majority (65.0%) of the teaching staff engaged ; in walking as their primary form ofphysical activity, 46.3% exercised for 30 minutes ; in a day, 38.8% commute around the university with personal car, 60.6% of the teaching staffsat down 4 to 6 hours in a day. The blood glucose level (34.4%) ofthe respondents had normal blood glucose level (70 mg/dL -99 mg/dL) or (3.9 mmol/L - 5.5 mmol/L) and 26.9% ofthem had pre-diabetes 100 mg/dL to 125 mg/dl or (5.6 mmol/L to 6.9 mmol/L) which is the prevalence. The result revealed significant association (p = < 0.05) between dietary pattern and pre-diabetes ofthe respondents. It was demonstrated that those that consumed processed food and skipped meal was negatively correlated with symptoms of pre-diabetes. In conclusion, unhealthy dietary pattern increase the risk of developing insulin resistance and pre-diabetes over time. Therefore, the study recommends regular screening to enable early detection ofrise in blood glucose level which is very necessary to stop progress into overt diabetes mellitus.