Risk Factors of Overweight among Urban School-Going Adolescents: A Case-Control Study

Abstract

Introduction: Obesity is seen high in rapid economic growth, industrialized and urbanized area. CBS 2012 report showed that Nepal is urbanizing at a fast pace which show that Nepal is also at the risk of obesity problem. The study aim was to study the risk factors associated with overweight among urban school-going adolescents.

Methods: In this institution based case-control study, age, sex and ethnicity matched 63 cases (BMI≥25) and 63 controls (BMI 18.5- 24.99) adolescents between 13-16 years were recruited. Self administer question was used to collect data from case and control. Data were entered in Epi Data 3.1 and analysis was done using SPSS 20.0 full version. Crude odd ratio was calculated to assess the risk factors associated with overweight.

Results: Regular meat consumption (OR =3.47), consumption of fruit < 3 days per week (OR=2), regular consumption of junk food (OR= 2.564) ≥5 DDS (OR= 2.591) significantly increase the risk of overweight. Cases were 6.259 times more likely to do dieting for physical fitness as compare to control similarly irregular menstruation was 4.960 times noted among controls.

Conclusion: Regular consumption of meat, junk food and soft drink, likewise family history with obesity, the habit of dieting for weight-loss purposes, irregular menstruation and screen viewing lead to obesity among adolescent in Lekthnath city in Pokhara metropolitan.