Prevalence Of Overweight And Obesity And Assocated Factors Among School Adolescents in jimma Town,Jimma Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Obesity in early life has a greater tendency to follow through adulthood and it will end up with serious medical problems, lower educational attainment and higher rates of poverty. However there is paucity of available information regarding the adolescents’ overweight and obesity in Ethiopia, particularly in the study area. Objective: To determine prevalence of overweight and obesity and associated factors among school adolescents in Jimma town. Methods: School based cross-sectional study was conducted from March to April/2015 among 546 adolescents selected using multi stage stratified random sampling. An interviewer administered questionnaire was used to collect socio demographic, dietary intake, health risky behaviour, and physical activity characteristics of the participants and weight & height were measured using calibrated equipment’s and standardized techniques. Data were analysed using SPSS v20 and WHO Anthro Plus. Multivariable logistic regression was used to isolate independent predictors of overweight and obesity at 95% confidence intervals. RESULTS: The prevalence of overweight/obesity was 13.3% (overweight (11.8%) and obese (1.6%)). Girls are 3.57(Adjusted odd ratio(AOR=3.57 [95%; CI:1.28-9.9] times more likely to be overweight/obese, additional year in age of the adolescents lowers the odds of overweight by 28.9% (AOR=0.71[0.53-0.95]), private school adolescents are 7.53 times(AOR=7.53[2.51-22.3]) more likely to be overweight/obese, Adolescents whose father did not attend formal education are 5.57 times(AOR=5.57[1.53-20.26]) more likely to be overweight/obese than whose father attended college & above. Those from high wealth quintile households (HH) are 3 times (AOR=3[1.094-8.26]) more likely to be overweight/obese than those from lower wealth quintile HHs. Adolescents who did not consume fruit are 5 times(AOR=5.08[1.57-16.38]) and who did not consume vegetables are 9 times(AOR=9.23[1.68-50.8]) more likely to be overweight/obese as than who consume 5-7x/wk. and adolescent who did not consume animal source foods(ASF) had 96.2%(AOR=0.038[0.006-0.24]) lower odds than who consume 5-7x/wk. Those who are physically inactive are 3.7 times (AOR=3.7[1.06-13.02)]) and those involved in sedentary behaviour for ≥3hr in day are 3.64[1.39-9.5] more likely to be obese/overweight than their counter peers. Conclusion and recommendation: Prevalence of overweight/obesity among Jimma town school adolescent is considerably high. Being female, younger age, learning in private school, lower paternal education, high HH wealth, limited fruit and vegetable consumption and frequent ASF consumption, physical inactivity and sedentary behavior were significantly associated with overweight/obesity and early interventions strategies that address certain socioeconomic and life style related factors needs to be established.