Health status of adolescent school going children with special reference to waist hip ratio

Authors

  • Halak J. Vasavada Department of Pediatrics, N.H.L. Medical College, Shardaben Municipal General Hospital, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
  • Snehal V. Patel Department of Pediatrics, N.H.L. Medical College, Shardaben Municipal General Hospital, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
  • Purvi R. Patel Department of Pediatrics, N.H.L. Medical College, Shardaben Municipal General Hospital, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
  • Heli S. Mehta Department of Pediatrics, N.H.L. Medical College, Shardaben Municipal General Hospital, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2349-3291.ijcp20201162

Keywords:

Adolescent, Nutrition, Obesity, Overweight, Waist hip ratio

Abstract

Background: A school is a key location for educating adolescents about health, hygiene and nutrition. Adolescence is period of critical development and transition. These changes have important implications for health. Aims and objectives of the stud was to study the role of WHR in nutritional assessment in adolescent school children and compare it with BMI as an assessment tool and to study nutritional status of municipal and private school.

Methods: It was a cross sectional study conducted in 10-17-year-old school children in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. There were 2 private and 2 municipal schools selected randomly by purposive sampling. Child absent or not well on the day of study were excluded.

Results: Incidence of obesity is 42.9% and 57.1% in municipal and private school respectively. Incidence of overweight is 47.2% and 52.8% in municipal and private schools respectively. (2.9%) adolescents had BMI range of 25-29.9 which is considered to be overweight. However, the percentage of overweight and obese was raised at 28% and 23.5% respectively when classified as per WHR.

Conclusions: The difference between incidence of overweight and obesity in private and municipal schools were not statistically significant. A combination of increase BMI with increase WHR is a stronger indicator of increase health risk.

References

Adolescent health in the South-East Asia Region Strategic Guidance on Accelerating Actions for Adolescent Health in South-East Asia Region (2018-2022) Website: World Health Organization. Fact sheet: Adolescents: health risks and solutions. Available at: http://www.searo.who.int/entity/child_adolescent/topics/adolescent_health/en/ Accessed 13 December 2018.

Defination of Child (Article 1): The Convention on the rights of the child; Guiding principles: general requirements for all rights. Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/documents/professionalinterest/crc.pdf. Accessed 29 May 2013.

Thakor N, Shukla A, Bala DV, Vala M, Ninama R. Health status of children of primary and secondary boarding schools of Gandhinagar district. Int J Med Sci Pub Health. 2014 Jul 1;3(7):866-9.

Bhattacharyya P. Clinical paediatrics, history taking, and case discussion. J Ind Assoc Pediatr Surg. 2017 Apr;22(2):128.

Singh D. Adaptive significance of female physical attractiveness: role of waist-to-hip ratio. J Person Soci Psychol. 1993 Aug;65(2):293.

Kaur S, Wala I. BMI, WC, and WHR among nursing students. Nursing Mid Res J. 2007;3(2):84.

Unnithan AG, Syamakumari S. Prevalence of overweight, obesity and underweight among school going children in rural and urban areas of Thiruvananthapuram Educational District, Kerala State (India). Internet J Nutr Wellness. 2008;6(2).

Regina D, Sudharshan RC, Rao R. Correlation of pallor with hemoglobin levels and clinical profile of anemia in primary and middle school children of rural Telangana. Int J Contemp Pediatr Int J Contemp Pediatr. 2016;33(3):872-7.

Patel N, Gunjana G, Patel S, Thanvi R, Sathvara P, Joshi R. Nutrition and health status of school children in urban area of Ahmedabad, India: Comparison with Indian Council of Medical Research and body mass index standards. J Natural Sci, Biol, Med. 2015 Jul;6(2):372.

De Ridder CM, De Boer RW, Seidell JC, Nieuwenhoff CM, Jeneson JA, Bakker CJ, et al. Body fat distribution in pubertal girls quantified by magnetic resonance imaging. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 1992;16:443-9.

Wandia FB, Ettyang GK, Mbagaya G. Prevalance of and factors associated with overweight and obesity among nursery school children aged 3-6 years in eldorent municipality. Afri J Food, Agricu, Nutri Devel. 2014;14(5):9257-71.

Downloads

Published

2020-03-21

Issue

Section

Original Research Articles