Abstract:
ABSTRACT
Introduction: In overweight and obesity there is abnormal or excessive fat
accumulation in the body that may affect health. The prevalence of overweight and
obesity in children is increasing worldwide, and currently 1 child in 10 is overweight
or obese. Overweight and obesity are now considered as very important risk factors
for many chronic diseases which exploit high cost of medical care; and currently
those are becoming a double burden to Ethiopia.
Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence and associated
factors of overweight and obesity among high school students in Gondar town.
Methodology: Institutional based quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted
from April12/2012 to April30/2012 in Gondar town administration. A total of 800
students were included in the study. Multistage sampling strategy was applied to
enroll students. Both bivariate and multivariate analyses of logistic regression were
done
Result: The overall prevalence of overweight and obesity in this study was 5.4% and
0.5% respectively. The prevalence of overweight among the adolescents studying in
private schools was 10.1% and was higher than those studying in government
schools (4%). Overweight was 4.47 times higher among girls (AOR=4.47(95% CI:
1.79, 11.13), and 2.48 times higher among Students of private school (AOR=2.48,
95%CI: 1.33, 4.64). Using sweet food item was significantly associated with
overweight. However, moderate or vigorous sport activity for at least 10 minutes
continuously was only marginally significant.
Conclusion and recommendation: This study revealed that overweight and
obesity are emerging in Gondar. School type, sex and use of sweet food item were
the predictors that were significantly associated with overweight. Hence decreasing
consumption of sweet food items and doing physical activity could reduce risk of
overweight/obesity.
Key words: Prevalence, overweight, obesity, students
