Influence of eating behaviour on the occurrence of aging pathologies in urban areas in cameroon, a cross-sectional study
Résumé
T he ageing of population is a universal trend that spares no continent. It leads to important changes in the age pyramid with an increase in the proportion and number of aged persons (AP). The ageing process is complex and multifactorial. Food has long demonstrated its leading role in diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, some cancers and more recently dementia. The main objective of this study is to determine the different eating behaviour and their influence on the pathologies of aging. Four hundred and three (403) AP (age≥60 years) consenting from urban areas in Cameroon were submitted to a questionnaire including socio-demographic characteristics, pathologies, past and current eating behaviour. The error retained is 5% and the confidence is 95%. More so, the data obtained were analyzed by the SPSS 20.0. It was noted that AP are mostly women (53%), the majority (80%) do not have pension and are cared for by families. Furthermore, milk and dairy products are less consumed (35%) than other food groups. Moreover, this behaviour is also characterized by a high-fat diet (96.0%), Hypertension (41.7.3%), osteoarthritis (35.7%), stroke (10.4%), cataract (11.9%) and diabetes (14.4%) are the main pathologies observed. Pathologies are correlated with eating behaviour (R=0.90, 95%). All APs with hypertension had a high-fat diet while 69% nibbled between meals. Osteoarthritis appears to correlate with excessive high red-meat diet (R=0.89, 95%). The eating behaviour seems to influence the appearance of certain pathologies related to ageing in Cameroon.