Waist to Hip Ratio and Intelligent Quotient; Any Association in a Sample of Nigerian Female Population?

Abstract

The assumption that intelligence and wait-to-hip ratio are inversely correlated has been a subject of debate. The aim of the study is to assess the relationship between waist-top-hip ratio and intelligence quotient. A total of one hundred and fifty Nigerian women between the ages of 18 to 28 years volunteered for the study. A modified method of Stanford Binet test for intelligent quotient was administered together with the measurement of the waist circumference (WC) and hip circumference (HC) to determine the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). In addition to assessing the relationship of WHR and IQ of the whole volunteers, the volunteers were further grouped into four categories based on WHR to evaluate how WHR relate to IQ in each group. The data obtained were analyzed using Pearson’s correlation test and test of correlation value at 0.05 level of significance. The result of the present study shows that the average age, WC, HC, WHR, IQ and correlation value (r2 ) of the volunteers were 22.49 years, 72.17 cm, 96.51 cm, 0.75, 53.35, 0.0009 respectively. The Pearson correlation values were poor and insignificant (P= .05) for all classes of WHR versus IQ. The study shows the correlation between WHR and IQ is poor and not significant and therefore does not support the assumption that WHR is inversely correlated to IQ.