Conference Abstract | Volume 9 (ConfPro8) Abstract 06 | Published: 01 Oct 2026
Shem Gbedzi1,&, Vera Anyamesem Attafuah2
1Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana; 2Department of Reproductive and Child Health, Catholic University of Ghana, Ghana
&Corresponding author: Shem Gbedzi, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana, Email: shemgbedzi75@gmail.com,
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-2268-3859
Received: 28 Mar 2026, Accepted: 20 Aug 2026, Published: 01 Oct 2026
Domain: Non-communicable Disease Epidemiology
Keywords: Maternal overweight and obesity; socioeconomic inequality; geographic disparities; Ghana
©Shem Gbedzi et al. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health (ISSN: 2664-2824). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cite this article: Shem Gbedzi et al., Socioeconomic and geographic inequalities in maternal overweight and obesity among mothers of children under five years in Ghana: Evidence from the 2022 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2026;9(ConfPro8):06. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO8-0006
A cross-sectional analysis of the 2022 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey included 4,803 mothers aged 15–49 years with valid BMI measurements. Overweight/obesity was defined as body mass index ≥25 kg/m². Survey-weighted analyses accounted for the complex sampling design. Wealth-related inequality was assessed using the concentration curve and Erreygers Concentration Index (ECI), while associated factors were examined using survey-weighted multivariable logistic regression.
The prevalence of maternal overweight and obesity was 45.6% (95% CI: 43.1–48.1). Prevalence increased from 16.5% in the poorest quintile to 74.6% in the richest and ranged from 14.3% in the North-East Region to 68.1% in Greater Accra Region. Wealth-related inequality was pro-rich (ECI=0.479; 95% CI: 0.388–0.569; p<0.001). Compared with mothers aged 15–24 years, adjusted odds were higher among those aged 25–34 years (AOR=2.42; 95% CI: 1.77–3.31) and 35–49 years (AOR=3.30; 95% CI: 2.37–4.60). Odds were higher among mothers with primary education (AOR=1.57; 95% CI: 1.06–2.31), secondary/higher education (AOR=1.52; 95% CI: 1.11–2.08), and those in the richest versus poorest wealth quintile (AOR=5.48; 95% CI: 3.31–9.07). Rural residence was associated with lower odds (AOR=0.57; 95% CI: 0.45–0.74), while currently married/cohabiting (AOR=1.49; 95% CI: 1.03–2.18) and formerly married mothers (AOR=1.72; 95% CI: 1.03–2.88) had higher odds than never-married mothers.
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