+44-330-822-4832
+44-330-822-4832
1Tanzania Rural Health Movement, Mwanza, Tanzania
2Gastroenterology and Hepatology Unit, Catholic University of Health and Allied Sciences, Bugando, Mwanza, Tanzania
Received date: April 11, 2016; Accepted date: October 24, 2016; Published date: October 27, 2016
Citation: Hingi M, Ngonyani J, Jaka H (2016) Overweight and Obesity among High Level Secondary School Adolescents in Mwanza Tanzania. J Obes Weight Loss Ther 6:322. doi:10.4172/2165-7904.1000322
Copyright: © 2016 Hingi M, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Visit for more related articles at Journal of Obesity & Weight Loss Therapy
Background: Overweight and obesity is public health issue which is growing among young generation worldwide. 15-50% of the people living in urban areas in Africa have obesity or overweight, and it is projected that by year 2012, about 75% of people will be in developing countries. Objective: To determine the prevalence and related factors of overweight and obesity among high level secondary school adolescent in Mwanza Tanzania. Methodology: A cross-sectional study conducted among 381 high school adolescents in Nyamagana, Mwanza in October 2014. Obesity and overweight were measured using height and weight of each student. The demographic, social and nutritional history; life style information and pattern of dietary intake were interviewed verbally. Result: The overall prevalence of obesity and overweight were 2.6% and 14.2% respectively. The prevalence of (0.8% overweight, 0% obese) in adolescents those residing out of school campus was lower than overweight (13.4%) and obesity (2.6%) residing in boarding school. The meal frequency, fruits, meat, and vegetables consumption were statistically significant with the p value of P<0.05. Conclusion: adolescent’s obesity and overweight are emerging health problem we need to plan and implement effective preventive strategies to stop this epidemic.
Overweight; Obesity secondary schools; Adolescents; Mwanza
Obesity and overweight are recognized as risk factor for various non-communicable diseases such as type 2 diabetes mellitus, osteoarthritis, cardiovascular related diseases, and certain types of cancers. These conditions lead to premature death as well as decrease in quality of life [1].
It was known that these conditions are common in developed countries; overweight and obesity are now widely trending in low and middle-income countries [2]. Although an increased prevalence of overweight and obesity was initially detected among adults, tremendously increasing trend in the prevalence of overweight and obesity among adolescents has been documented in recent few decades worldwide, and it is becoming public health issue for adolescents in low and middle income countries [3].
Global epidemiology on overweight and obesity among children and adolescents made in 2004 concluded that 10% of school-age children were overweight, of which about 3% were obese [4,5]. There are little studies on prevalence of obesity in Tanzanian high school adolescents. This study in an urban community will provide baseline and reference data on the prevalence and the associated factors of overweight and obesity among urban communities of school adolescent in Mwanza city.
This study was institution based cross-sectional study among high school adolescents in Mwanza city. This study recruited secondary school students studying advanced schools in Mwanza urban areas. The diet and sedentary history were asked, and body weight together with height was taken.
Measure of overweight and obesity: From each subject a trained examiners took height and weight measurements. The values obtained were used to calculate body mass index (BMI), by dividing weight in kilograms (kg) by height (m2) in meters squared (kg/m2) (WHO, 2000). Diet: The diet history was taken a one-day, 24 hour dietary recall interview, while the sedentary behavior was asked the total daily TV/computer screen time per day and Physical activity was defined by leisure-time physical activity levels per week.
Data analysis and Ethical consideration
Collected data was entered and analyzed by using IBM SPSS version 20. Results were described as means, proportion and measures of association was calculated. This study sought ethical clearance from the CUHAS/BMC institutional review board and Mwanza city council granted permission to conduct this study.
The mean age was 17.2 years, Male 17.5 year and Female 17 year. The overall prevalence of overweight and obesity was 14.2% and 2.6% respectively. Overweight and obesity among adolescents in boarding school and day schools were (13.4%) and overweight among boarding school adolescents were higher than (0.8% overweight,) those day school adolescents. There was no student who had obesity in off campus group while the obesity among in campus was 2.6% (Table 1).
| Variables | Frequency | Percent (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Age 16-17 18-19 |
75 306 |
19.7 80.3 |
| Sex Female Male |
325 56 |
86.3 16.7 |
| Residence Boarding Day |
311 70 |
81.6 18.4 |
| Parents Education at least one (father or mother) More than secondary Secondary Primary Informal |
193 105 73 10 |
50.7 27.6 19.2 2.6 |
| Parents Occupation at least one(father or mother) Government Non-Government Self employed Farmer Daily laborer |
120 63 133 62 3 |
31.5 16.5 34.9 16.3 0.80 |
| Subject combinations Science Arts Commercial |
303 13 65 |
79.5 3.4 17.1 |
Table 1: Socio demographic characteristics of high school students in Nyamagana district-Mwanza City, September 2014.
The fruits consumption, vegetables, meal frequency, meat had association with obesity and overweight and it is statistically significant with the p value of P<0.05, (Table 2).
| Variable | Overweight/obesity** | P value* | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes n (%) | No n (%) | |||
| Age of interviewee | 16-17 18-19 |
17 (22.7%) 47 (15.4%) |
58 (77.3%) 259 (83.7%) |
0.000 |
| Interviewee residence | Boarding Day |
61 (19.6%) 3 (4.3%) |
250 (80.4%) 67 (95.7%) |
0.000 |
| Interviewee sex | Female Male |
63 (19.4%) 1 (1.80%) |
262 (80.6%) 55 (98.2%) |
0.000 |
| Meal frequency per day | Less than two Three More than four |
11 (13.1%) 53 (18.6%) 0 (0%) |
73 (86.9%) 232 (81.4%) 12 (100%) |
0.000 |
| Eating out per week | Never Once Two to four More than five |
33 (14.7%) 22 (25.9%) 6 (12.2%) 2 (9.1%) |
191 (85.3%) 63 (74.1%) 43 (87.8%) 20 (90.9%) |
0.022 |
| Time TV/computer per day | Less than three hours More than three hours |
62 (16.9%) 2 (13.3%) |
304 (83.1%) 13 (86.7%) |
0.008 |
| Vegetable intake | Once per day Once to Twice per week Three to six per week Two times per month None |
32 (23.9%) 18 (13.6%) 11 (14.7%) 0 (0%) 3 (9.4%) |
102 (76.1%) 114 (86.4%) 64 (85.3%) 8 (100%) 29 (90.6%) |
0.030 |
| Fruits intake | Once per day Once to Twice per week Three to six per week Two times per month None |
20 (19.8%) 14 (16.7%) 7 (18.4%) 2 (9.1%) 21 (15.4%) |
81 (80.2%) 70 (83.3%) 31 (81.6%) 20 (90.9%) 115 (84.6%) |
0.009 |
| Meat intake | Once per day Once to Twice per week Three to six per week Two times per month None |
16 (21.1%) 33 (14.8%) 4 (10.5%) 2 (15.4%) 9 (29%) |
60 (78.9%) 190 (85.2%) 34 (89.5%) 11 (84.6%) 22 (71%) |
0.000 |
Table 2: Factors associated with overweight/obese among high school students, Nyamagana district, Mwanza City, September 2014 (N=381).
The overall prevalence of overweight and obese in this study was much higher compared to the study done in Gondar Town, North West Ethiopia (5.4% overweight and 0.5% obese) [4]. The possible reasons could explain this might be difference in cultural practice of dietary intake.
The age related prevalence of Overweight and Obese increase as age increases, this findings correlate with observation done in the United States and internationally from preschool children to adolescents [6-10]. This could be due to increase in hormonal changes as age progress within adolescent period also decrease of daily activities can explain this findings.
Sex specific variable was strongly associated with overweight and obese. The overweight findings was similar from Gondar Town, Ghana and Uganda (10.4% girls, 3.2% boys were overweight while 0.9% females and 0.5% males were obese) [2].
Diet related factors like meal frequency, vegetable intake, fruits intake and meat intake was statistically significantly related to prevalence of overweight and obese is also observed in studies done at Hawassa, Ethiopia [11]. In contrary with studies done in Turkey [12], Saudi Arabia 36 and in Europe [13,14].
Adolescent’s obesity and overweight are emerging health problem we need to plan and implement effective preventive strategies to stop this epidemic.
Make the best use of Scientific Research and information from our 700 + peer reviewed, Open Access Journals
