Prevalence of overweight and obesity among high school students attending public schools in Nairobi

Abstract

Study title: Prevalence of overweight and obesity among high school students attending public schools in Nairobi Background: Obesity has become a global epidemic, affecting the developed as well as developing nations. Approximately 1.3 billion people in the world are obese. putting them at increased risk of morbidity and mortality, notably hypertension, Diabetes and early cardiovascular death. Childhood obesity has increased as well as adult obesity, and is largely blamed on changes associated with urbanization and socio-economic and environmental factors. Main Objectives: To determine the prevalence of overweight and obese status in high school children in Nairobi and to determine their dietary practice and physical activity profile. Study Design: Cross-sectional descriptive Survey. Study Site: The study was done in day public and faith-based schools in Nairobi province. Methodology: A total of 112 day schools were sampled and thirty schools selected for this study. Study Population and sample: Students in Public High Schools in Nairobi province in Fonn 1 to Form 4, approximated to age between 12 years to 20 years with calculated sample of 1,296 students. Data Collection tools: STEPS Questionnaire, Food frequency table, KAP questionnaire and observation data collection tools were used. Data Analysis: Data was analyzed using SPSS and presented in means, modes, median, frequencies, percentages and standard deviation. Results: Thirty (30) schools were selected to participate in this study, in which the 1300 students were interviewed and 1296 were enrolled in the study. There was a high response rate with 99.7% of the selected students participating in the study. The schools were geographically located in all the six districts of Nairobi. Three of these schools were located in Slum areas. The male to female ratio in the overall population was 1.4:1, with 59.1% being male and 40.9% being female. The majority of the study population (79.0010) was in the age group between 15-18 yrs.

The prevalence of overweight in this population was 8.2% while prevalence of obesity was 2.2%. Abdominal obesity had a prevalence of 2.7%. Overweight and Obese status was more prevalent among the females, with a ratio {If 3.4:1. 79% of the population undertook the recommended adequate physical activity (more than 30mins per day for at least 3 days per week). Males were more active than females in the vigorous sports related exercise category (78.7% against 64.5% with a significant P <0.001). There was high intake of proteins and fats in this population, with 85.3% of the study population taking regular milk on a daily basis, 87.9% taking meat protein at least once daily. Other forms of proteins including eggs, vegetable proteins, were also consumed in high rates. Fat intake was also noted to be high, with 86.6% of the population taking some form offatS/oil daily.

The intake of fried foods was 65.0% with the majority 57.3% of the students taking potato chips. In contrast, the intake of the recommended servings of fruits and vegetable was low in this study population, with only 22.90/. of the population taking the recommended servings (five or more servings) of fruits and vegetables. Statistically significant associations of Overweight and obese status was found to be age, gender, socioeconomic status, dietary practice and travel and sport related physical activity. Conclusion There is a high prevalence of overweight and obesity among students in day secondary schools in Nairobi. It is positively associated with gender, age, physical activity, dietary practice and socio-economic status.