Overweight and its associated risk factors among urban school adolescents in Nepal: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

ObjectivesThe prevalence of non-communicable diseases is increasing in Nepal. Overweight and obesity are the major risk factors of many non-communicable diseases. Adolescence is a critical phase for development of overweight and obesity. Risk factors associated with overweight and obesity are not well understood in Nepal. The objective of the study was to identify the factors associated with overweight and obesity among adolescent students.SettingA cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out on higher secondary school students in the Lalitpur sub-metropolitan city, Nepal.ParticipantsA random sample of 360 students aged 16–19 years from eight schools was included in the study.ResultsThe prevalence of overweight among adolescent students was 12.2% (95% CI 8.9 to 15.5). Factors associated with being overweight included being male (adjusted OR (AOR) 2.64, 95% CI 1.18 to 4.88), studying in private school (AOR 2.10, 95% CI 1.03 to 4.28), high socioeconomic status family (AOR 4.77, 95% CI 1.36 to 16.72), watching television for more than 2 h per day (AOR 8.86, 95% CI 3.90 to 20.11), and consuming fruit four times or less per week (AOR 3.13, 95% CI 1.39 to 7.01). There was no statistically significant association between adolescent overweight and age, ethnicity, mother's education level, mother's occupation, number of siblings or family type.ConclusionsSocioeconomic status, watching television for a longer time and consuming less fruit are major risk factors for overweight among adolescents in Nepal. Interventions are needed to increase awareness about the risk factors of adolescent overweight and obesity to decrease prevalence of overweight-associated non-communicable diseases.

Association between the frequency of television watching and overweight and obesity among women of reproductive age in Nepal: Analysis of data from the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey 2016

“…3, residing in the Hill region, were educated up to the primary level, and belonged to the richest wealth quintiles. All of these findings are consistent with previous studies conducted in Nepal and in neighboring India and Pakistan [14,38,39]. In general, the prevalence of overweight and obesity was found to be higher among urban women compared to rural women, which is also consistent with findings from earlier studies conducted in Nepal and other South Asian countries [16,36,21].…”

“…The current study found a positive association between watching television once a week and overweight and obesity among women of reproductive age, which is consistent with findings from Bangladesh and Myanmar [14,16]. A study of Nepalese adolescents found that watching television more than two hours per day increased the risk of becoming overweight by nine times compared to those who watched television less than two hours a day [39]. Similar associations were observed in Western countries, such as Australia and the United States [12,13], as well as in Asian countries, such as Iran and China [11,40].…”

Prevalence and Knowledge on Obesity Among School Going Adolescents of Kaski, Nepal

“…This study is also consistent with another study conducted among higher secondary level adolescents with 5.8% overweight and 2.3% obese 9 . Similarly, this is also parallel with the fi ndings of another one study which showed the prevalence of overweight of 12.2% among adolescents 10. More than two third (75.0%) of the adolescents in this study were able to defi ne obesity correctly which is consistent with the fi ndings of the onestudy which showed 82.21% of students defi ned obesity correctly 11 . Likewise, in this study only 26.7% of the adolescents correctly mentioned the method of assessment of obesity using BMI.…”

Overweight and obesity among higher secondary level students of Tulsipur Municipality, Nepal

“…The result was similar (65%) in a study conducted by Piryani et al in Nepal. 15 Higher purchasing power, higher socio-economic status and more exposure to unhealthy diet may be the contributing factors for respondents being more overweight/obese among private schools. In this study, the combined prevalence was higher among 16-17 years of age group and also it was observed as higher the age, higher was the BMI.…”