A study on nutritional status of school-going adolescents in Aligarh,India

Abstract

Adolescence is a highly vulnerable period for malnutrition. This study was based on a Global School Health Survey methodology in the 13–15-year age group; employing WHO AnthroPlus to evaluate the nutritional status, find the prevalence of both extremes of malnutrition, compare with the growth curves and to find its sociodemographic correlates. A total of 1456 students were sampled and the mean BMI for age Z score was found to be −0.11. The prevalence of overweight and obese were 11.95% and 2.27%, respectively, whereas 2.75% suffered from thinness, defined as BMI for age <2 standard deviations. The prevalence of being overweight and obese was associated with a higher standard of living, a higher education of father or mother, working mothers and father’s occupation being service/business. The evident double burden of malnutrition presages a large public health burden in future, requiring interventional attention.

Keywords

Adolescence nutrition AnthroPlus obesity thinness

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

World Health Organization (WHO). Regional Working Group on health needs of adolescents: final report. WHO Document ICP/MCH/005. Manila: World Organization, Regional Office for the Western Pacific, 1980.

Das Gupta M, Engelman R, Levy J, et al. State of the World Population 2014: The Power of 1.8 Billion: Adolescents, Youth and the Transformation of the Future. New York, NY: United Nations Population Fund, 2014. Available at: https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/EN-SWOP14-Report_FINAL-web.pdf.

Census of India. Adolescent and Youth Population. 2011. Available at: http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/PCA_AY_2011_Revised.xlsx.

Lifshitz

Tarim

Smith

. Nutrition in adolescence. Endocrinol Metab Clin North Am 1993; 22: 673–683.

Cleaver K, Okidegbe N and De Nys E. Agriculture and Rural Development: Hunger and Malnutrition. Washington, DC: 2012. Available at: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTABOUTUS/Resources/KevinCleaver-paper.pdf.

Grijalva-Eternod

Wells

JCK

Cortina-Borja

. The double burden of obesity and malnutrition in a protracted emergency setting: a cross-sectional study of western Sahara refugees. PLoS Med 2012; 9: 1–12.

Amin

Al-Sultan

Ali

. Overweight and obesity and their relation to dietary habits and socio-demographic characteristics among male primary school children in Al-Hassa, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Eur J Nutr 2008; 47: 310–318.

Jafar

Qadri

Islam

. Rise in childhood obesity with persistently high rates of undernutrition among urban school-aged Indo-Asian children. Arch Dis Child 2008; 93: 373–378.

Kelishadi

Ardalan

Gheiratmand

. Association of physical activity and dietary behaviours in relation to the body mass index in a national sample of Iranian children and adolescents: CASPIAN Study. Bull World Health Organ 2007; 85: 19–26.

10.

Tang

Dibley

Sibbritt

. Gender and socio-economic differences in BMI of secondary high school students in Ho Chi Minh city. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr 2007; 16: 74–83.

11.

Moy

Gan

Zaleha

MKS

. Body mass status of school children and adolescents in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr 2004; 13: 324–329.

12.

Aounallah-Skhiri

Romdhane

Traissac

. Nutritional status of Tunisian adolescents: associated gender, environmental and socio-economic factors. Public Health Nutr 2008; 11: 1306–1317.

13.

Reddy

Resnicow

James

. Underweight, overweight and obesity among South African adolescents: results of the 2002 National Youth Risk Behaviour Survey. Public Health Nutr 2009; 12: 203–207.

14.

Edelman

. Families in peril: an agenda for social change, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1987.

15.

Blössner

Siyam

Borghi

. WHO AnthroPlus for Personal Computers Manual Software for assessing growth of the world’s children, WHO: Geneva, 2009.

16.

Faizi

Khan

Amir

. Breakfast skipping and proposed effects of breakfast on obesity: A school based study in adolescents in Aligarh, India. Ann Trop Med Public Health 2014; 7: 43–47.

17.

Faizi

Khan

Amir

. Sleep duration and its effect on nutritional status in adolescents of Aligarh, India. South African Journal of Child Health 2015; 9: 18–21.

18.

World Health Organization. Physical Status: The Use and Interpretation of Anthropometry. WHO Technical Report Series No. 854, Geneva: WHO, 1995.

19.

International Institute for Population Sciences. National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) Report. Mumbai: IIPS, 2005–2006.

20.

World Health Organization. India (CBSE) Global School-based Student Health Survey Factsheet. Geneva: WHO, 2007. Available at: http://www.who.int/chp/gshs/2007_India_CBSE_fact_sheet.pdf.

21.

World Health Organization. Obesity: Preventing and managing a global epidemic. Report of a WHO Consultation. WHO Technical Report Series No. 894. Geneva: WHO, 2000.

22.

Gupta

Shah

Misra

. Secular trends in prevalence of overweight and obesity from 2006 to 2009 in urban Asian Indian adolescents aged 14–17 years. PLoS One 2011; 6: e17221–e17221.

23.

Wang

. Cross-national comparison of childhood obesity: the epidemic and the relationship between obesity and socioeconomic status. Int J Epidemiol 2001; 30: 1129–1136.

24.

Veugelers

Fitzgerald

. Prevalence of and risk factors for childhood overweight and obesity. CMAJ 2005; 173: 607–613.