OVERWEIGHT, OBESITY AND THINNESS AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN (5-14 YEARS) IN TAMALE, NORTHERN GHANA

Abstract

Background: Childhood overweight and obesity has been an issue concern for both developing and developed countries. Developing countries are faced with prevalence of overweight/obesity and thinness/underweight. This cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the prevalence of childhood overweight/obesity and thinness among school-aged children in Tamale, Ghana and examine their influencing factors.
Methods: From January to July 2010, a random sample of 218 from randomly selected schools was selected for the study. Anthropometric measurements of age, weight, height of the selected children were measured by standard methods. Age- and sex-specific prevalence of overweight and obesity were determined by Body-mass-index-for-age Z-scores using the criteria defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO) cut offs points for school-age children. The statistical software Graphpad was used to analysis the data. Fischer’s exact test or chi-square for trend analysis was used to test for significance a confidence interval of 95%.
Results: Prevalence rates for thinness and overweight/obesity was found to be 29.8% and 17.4%. As more girls than boys were found to be overweight/obese (18.9% vs. 15.4%, p=0.5883), more boys than girls were found to be thin (38.5% vs. 23.6%, p=0.0241). Whereas, 71.1% (p=0.0112) of overweight/obese children went to bed between 20:00Hrs and 21:00 Hrs, 41.5% of children who were thin went to bed after 21:00Hrs (p=0.0375). Significantly, 34.2% overweight/obese children and 13.9% of children who were thin watched Television during leisure times. Snacking status, religious background and parent’s/guardian’s occupation was neither associated, significantly, to overweight/obesity nor to thinness.
Conclusion: The prevalence of overweight/obesity was high. Factors that were positively associated to overweight/obesity were television viewing and late bedtimes. The male gender and late bedtimes were also positively associated with thinness.