Socio-Economic Differentials In Height, Weight And Body Mass Index Of School Adolescents In Nnewi, South-Eastern Nigeria

摘要

Aim: To examine the influence of and socioeconomic indices on anthropometric parameters of student adolescents in Nnewi, South-Eastern Nigeria.Subjects and Methods: Four thousand and seventy-eight student adolescents, aged 11-18 years, participated in this study. Age and gender of the participants as well as parents’ socioeconomic indices were collected. Weight and height were measured using standard procedures while BMI was calculated. Results: Male adolescents in private and public school had significant difference in their heights (p<.05) whereas their female counterparts had significant differences (p<.05) in their heights and weights. Parent’s occupation significantly influenced only the height of female adolescents while there were significant influences (p<.05) of parent’s education on only height and weight of each of male and female adolescents. Conclusion: The adolescents attending private school are taller than their counterparts in public schools. Highest educational attainment of the parents influence their height and weight whereas body mass index of adolescents are different only in female by the type of school attended and highest educational attainment whereas occupation influence only height of female adolescents. Introduction Adolescence is the period between puberty and adulthood. Puberty is the period in which sexual and physical characteristics mature. Physical changes in girls include increase in height and hip size while, in boys, they are increased height and shoulder width.1 Determination of growth in adolescents requires the use of standards that show normal range and, the most important criteria for assessing growth are weight, height, and body mass index (BMI).2 Measurements of height and weight are important in understanding growth rate in adolescents.3 As human height has been known to vary according to genetic and nutritional status4, measurements from populations with different genetic make ups may not be easily used to explain situations in other populations. High levels of low height-for-age or stunted growth, on a population basis, are associated with poor socio-economic conditions and increased risk of frequent and early exposure to adverse conditions such as illness.5 High weight-for-height has a very strong correlation with obesity as measured by adiposity.5 The social and economic consequences of obesity may be as great as the health consequences.6 The social and economic class of a family relates most closely to the educational level and income of head of the family or the occupation of the family members, size and quality of their home and neighbourhood or community they live in.7 Marriage, lower level of education and income has been associated with obesity in adolescents and young adults.6 However, persistence and emergence of income gradients suggest that disparities in weight status are only partially attributable to poverty.8 Many studies have been carried out on height, weight and body mass index in respect of socio-economic influence.9-12 The findings of these studies are however conflicting. Further, most of these previous studies were not on African children and their findings may not be easily extrapolated to them. This is so in view of sharp differences in socio-cultural and genetic factors. The only accessible Nigerian study12 was on children and only examined body mass index based on the school (private or public) they attended. This study, however, examined the influence of socioeconomic indices on height, weight, body mass index of school adolescents in Nnewi, South-Eastern Nigeria. Methods ParticipantsThis study was conducted in Nnewi-North Local Government Area in Anambra state of Nigeria in 2009. There are 17 secondary schools (10 private and 7 public) in this area. A sample of 12 schools (7 private and 5 public) was drawn by stratifying the schools into private and public schools and randomly selecting schools with probability proportional to size. The sample was dra