Nutritional Status and its Associated Factors Among Adolescents of Public Schools in Vyas Municipality, Tanahun, Nepal
Abstract:
Background: Adolescent is a critical growth period in the human lifecycle. Nutrition is an essential compo nent of human life as it provides energy to the body in order to perform functional activities. Nutrition is very important for everyone, but it is especially important for children because it is directly linked to all aspects of their growth and development. Good nutrition leads to good health of the adolescent.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in public schools of Vyas municipality among 313 adolescents (12-16 years of age). Data were collected using pre-tested structured self-administered questionnaire. Data was entered in Epi-data software and transferred into SPSS for analysis. The nutritional status was assessed by anthropometric methods (height, weight). WHO AnthroPlus Software was used to convert anthropometry data into z-score. Binary logistic regression was applied to identify the factors associated with nutritional sta tus. Ethical approval was taken from from Institutional Review Committee of Pokhara University and written informed consent was taken from each participant.
Results: The prevalence of stunting and thinness were found to be 8% and 8.9% respectively. Findings from multivariate logistic regression showed that middle adolescents (AOR= 4.227, 95% CI= 1.423-12.551), roti consumption 4-7 days per week (AOR= 4.554, 95%CI= 1.289-16.089) were associated with stunting. Sim ilarly, milk and milk products consumption 1-3 days per week (AOR= 6.978, 95%CI= 1.965-24.780) was associated with thinness.
Conclusion: Stunting and thinness were common among school adolescents in the study area. Age, father’s education, roti consumption per week and means to come school were the factors associated with stunting. Similarly, factors like father’s occupation, fish consumption and milk and milk products consumption per week were associated with thinness. Strategies to improve nutritional status of adolescents should be given much attention. Further large-scale research should be conducted for determining the situation of the district and all over the country.
