Prevalence and known risk factors for overweight and obesity in adolescents in urban Maseru

[摘要] English: Chronic diseases of lifestyle (cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, cancer) remain theleading causes of death and illness among people in both developed and developing countries. Theprevalence of obesity, which is one of the main risk factors for developing these diseases, hasrisen to epidemic proportions. Overweight and obesity are becoming more and more prevalent atever younger ages, trigerring health consequences in children and adolescents that track intoadulthood. No data is available yet regarding overweight and obesity in Lesotho.A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted to determine the prevalence and knownrisk factors for overweight and obesity in adolescents in urban Maseru, Lesotho. A sample size of251 students (125 boys and 126 girls) was randomly selected from the 20 schools in urban area ofthe Maseru district. Only learners 16-year olds in Form 4 were included in the study due to limitedresources. The final study population was 221 students.Approval to undertake the study was obtained from the Ethics Committee of the Faculty ofHealth Sciences at the University of the Free State. Permission was also required from the ChiefInspector in the Ministry of Education and Training and the heads of the selected schools. Signed.informed consent and assent was obtained from the parents and the learners, respectively.Structured interviews were conducted on the school premises, using a questionnaire torecord demographic data, birth weight and height, lifestyle factors, diet history, physical activityand knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) in nutrition. The participants were weighed andmeasured to calculate their body mass index (BMI). Reliability interviews of 10% of the samplewere conducted one month after the initial interview.Data collected were described as means and standard deviations and percentages. Pearsoncorrelation analyses were performed to evaluate associations between parameters. The analysiswas performed be the Department of Biostatistics at the University of the Free State.The results of this study revealed that the prevalence of overweight/obesity in adolescentsin urban Maseru is lower than in SA, with females having higher prevalences (11.3% and 20%, respectively) than (2.1 % and 4.1 %, respectively). When comparing different standards forinterpretation of results, the World Health Organisation (WHO) standards identified moreoverweight males (4.1 %) than females (20.0%) than the Centre of Disease Control and prevention(CDC) growth standards (3.1 % males and 16% females) and the International Obesity Task Force(lOTF) cut-off-points.When using a 24-hour recall, the majority of participants reported lower than therecommended intakes of fruits (86.4%) and vegetables (91.4%), and dairy products (91.0%), buthigher than the recommended intakes of grains and starchy vegetables (74.7%). These trends wereconfirmed by the results of a food frequency questionnaire which revealed that fruits, vegetables,diary, meat and pulses were not consumed on a daily basis. Maize porridge (56.1 %) and bread(63.8%) were eaten by most on a daily basis. Margarine/butter/oil, salt and sugar were consumeddaily by most. Most students (54.3%) bought food (including processed meat which are high in fatand salt) from the tuck shop on a weekly basis, while 18.6% did so daily. Despite poor eatinghabits, most participants had adequate nutrition knowledge and a negative attitude towardsobesity.The majority of participants were vigorously to moderately physically active, but no oneout of five (22.7%) were not active. The majority of participants watched TV for less than 4 hoursper a day, while computer usage outside school hours was low. Energy intake and physicalactivity were identified to be significantly associated with BMI. Alcohol and cigarette usage werelower than among South African adolescents.The results indicate that overweight and obesity, and the associated risk factors areemerging problems among Lesotho adolescents. Lesotho is apparently following South Africa inundergoing a nutrition transition from a traditional diet high in unrefined grains, fruits anvegetables, to a more westernised diet high in fat, salt and sugar; accompanied by increasedalcohol and cigarette usage, while more sedentary practices such as TV watching are alsoemerging.Data collected from this study will be used as baseline data to enable individuals, healthcare teams and/or government of Lesotho to design programmes to address these identified problems.

[发布机构] University of the Free State