Feeding Habits Associated with Overweight and Obesity Amongst Secondary School Students in Private and Public Schools in Langata Nairobi Kenya

Abstract

Background; Obesity continues to pose major public health challenges globally. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of overweight /obesity amongst secondary school students in private and public schools in Langata Nairobi and identify the feeding habits associated with it. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive survey was carried out on 292 boys and girls from both public and private secondary schools in Langata sub county Nairobi. Multistage random sampling was used to select the study participants. Data was collected using a self administered questionnaire and direct anthropometric measurements of height and weight which was used to calculate Body mass index. The World Health Organization (WHO) Age and gender specific BMI- for –age Zscores (BAZ) was used to classify nutrition status. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20 and WHO AnthroPlus software. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze quantitative variables. The Chi square tests were used to determine any association between selected variables such as age, gender, type of school (private or public), boarding or day, parent/guardian car(s) ownership, feeding habits such as fruit and vegetable consumption, missing breakfast, snacking, caring about portion size and overweight and obesity using 0.05 as the level of significance. For the variables that were significant at bivariate, analysis proceeded to logistic regression. Results: The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 17.8 %( 16.96% among males and 20.59% among females). It was significantly higher in private (23.45%) than public schools (12.24%) with a computed p=0.047Additionally, being a boarder p=0.004, parents’ ownership of car(s) p=0.004 and not caring about the portion size of food eaten p=0.008 were also significantly associated with overweight and obesity. Conclusion: The prevalence of overweight and obesity in this study is high especially among girls and should be of public health concern to policy planners .Recommendation: The government should consider increasing time for physical education in schools and introducing some levy on junk food in addition to a school health and fitness programme involving parents.