Globally unhealthy lifestyle behaviors among adolescents have become a public health concern, contributing to the obesity epidemic in many parts of the world. In The Gambia, underweight has previously been considered as a significant health problem. However, in recent decades, the prevalence of overweight and obesity has been a growing concern. Thus, we aimed to investigate the prevalence and risk factors for both thinness and overweight/obesity among school going adolescence in The Gambia. Using a cross-sectional study design, 805 students (268 males, 537 females) aged 13 to 19 from schools in Western Region, The Gambia ware selected using a multi-stage sampling design. BMI-for-age z-scores were used to determine nutritional status. Multinomial logistic regressions models were used to assess the association between multiple factors and BMI-for-age status of adolescents. Our findings show that thinness and overweight/obesity were 13.69% and 7.77% respectively. Factors such as sex (female: adjusted odds ratio [aOR]=3.15, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.43 – 6.93), mother’s education (secondary: aOR=2.86, 95% CI=1.16 – 7.07), physical activity level (sufficiently active: aOR=0.48, 95% CI=0.24 – 0.95) and nighttime sleep duration (<6 hours: aOR=2.53, 95% CI=1.07 – 5.99) were significantly associated with overweight/obesity. In addition, sex (female: aOR=0.34, 95% CI=0.19–0.59) and nighttime sleep duration (<6 hours: aOR=2.92, 95% CI=1.24–6.86) were associated with thinness. The results suggest that the double burden of malnutrition exist in The Gambia and remains a major public health issue among adolescents. This, therefore, underlined the need for nutritional interventions targeting adolescents. Further research involving the entire country may be required to show the national burden.
| DOI | 10.11648/j.cajph.20200603.18 |
| Published in | Central African Journal of Public Health (Volume 6, Issue 3, June 2020) |
| Page(s) | 164-172 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group |
BMI-for-age, Thinness, Overweight/Obesity, Adolescents, The Gambia
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APA Style
Haddy Jallow-Badjan, Haddy Tunkara-Bah, Paul Bass, Thomas Senghore. (2020). Prevalence and Factors Associated with Thinness and Overweight/Obesity Among Secondary School Adolescents. A Cross-sectional Study. Central African Journal of Public Health, 6(3), 164-172. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cajph.20200603.18
ACS Style
Haddy Jallow-Badjan; Haddy Tunkara-Bah; Paul Bass; Thomas Senghore. Prevalence and Factors Associated with Thinness and Overweight/Obesity Among Secondary School Adolescents. A Cross-sectional Study. Cent. Afr. J. Public Health 2020, 6(3), 164-172. doi: 10.11648/j.cajph.20200603.18
AMA Style
Haddy Jallow-Badjan, Haddy Tunkara-Bah, Paul Bass, Thomas Senghore. Prevalence and Factors Associated with Thinness and Overweight/Obesity Among Secondary School Adolescents. A Cross-sectional Study. Cent Afr J Public Health. 2020;6(3):164-172. doi: 10.11648/j.cajph.20200603.18
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Download@article{10.11648/j.cajph.20200603.18,
author = {Haddy Jallow-Badjan and Haddy Tunkara-Bah and Paul Bass and Thomas Senghore},
title = {Prevalence and Factors Associated with Thinness and Overweight/Obesity Among Secondary School Adolescents. A Cross-sectional Study},
journal = {Central African Journal of Public Health},
volume = {6},
number = {3},
pages = {164-172},
doi = {10.11648/j.cajph.20200603.18},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cajph.20200603.18},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.cajph.20200603.18},
abstract = {Globally unhealthy lifestyle behaviors among adolescents have become a public health concern, contributing to the obesity epidemic in many parts of the world. In The Gambia, underweight has previously been considered as a significant health problem. However, in recent decades, the prevalence of overweight and obesity has been a growing concern. Thus, we aimed to investigate the prevalence and risk factors for both thinness and overweight/obesity among school going adolescence in The Gambia. Using a cross-sectional study design, 805 students (268 males, 537 females) aged 13 to 19 from schools in Western Region, The Gambia ware selected using a multi-stage sampling design. BMI-for-age z-scores were used to determine nutritional status. Multinomial logistic regressions models were used to assess the association between multiple factors and BMI-for-age status of adolescents. Our findings show that thinness and overweight/obesity were 13.69% and 7.77% respectively. Factors such as sex (female: adjusted odds ratio [aOR]=3.15, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.43 – 6.93), mother’s education (secondary: aOR=2.86, 95% CI=1.16 – 7.07), physical activity level (sufficiently active: aOR=0.48, 95% CI=0.24 – 0.95) and nighttime sleep duration (<6 hours: aOR=2.53, 95% CI=1.07 – 5.99) were significantly associated with overweight/obesity. In addition, sex (female: aOR=0.34, 95% CI=0.19–0.59) and nighttime sleep duration (<6 hours: aOR=2.92, 95% CI=1.24–6.86) were associated with thinness. The results suggest that the double burden of malnutrition exist in The Gambia and remains a major public health issue among adolescents. This, therefore, underlined the need for nutritional interventions targeting adolescents. Further research involving the entire country may be required to show the national burden.},
year = {2020}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Prevalence and Factors Associated with Thinness and Overweight/Obesity Among Secondary School Adolescents. A Cross-sectional Study AU - Haddy Jallow-Badjan AU - Haddy Tunkara-Bah AU - Paul Bass AU - Thomas Senghore Y1 - 2020/05/15 PY - 2020 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cajph.20200603.18 DO - 10.11648/j.cajph.20200603.18 T2 - Central African Journal of Public Health JF - Central African Journal of Public Health JO - Central African Journal of Public Health SP - 164 EP - 172 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2575-5781 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.cajph.20200603.18 AB - Globally unhealthy lifestyle behaviors among adolescents have become a public health concern, contributing to the obesity epidemic in many parts of the world. In The Gambia, underweight has previously been considered as a significant health problem. However, in recent decades, the prevalence of overweight and obesity has been a growing concern. Thus, we aimed to investigate the prevalence and risk factors for both thinness and overweight/obesity among school going adolescence in The Gambia. Using a cross-sectional study design, 805 students (268 males, 537 females) aged 13 to 19 from schools in Western Region, The Gambia ware selected using a multi-stage sampling design. BMI-for-age z-scores were used to determine nutritional status. Multinomial logistic regressions models were used to assess the association between multiple factors and BMI-for-age status of adolescents. Our findings show that thinness and overweight/obesity were 13.69% and 7.77% respectively. Factors such as sex (female: adjusted odds ratio [aOR]=3.15, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.43 – 6.93), mother’s education (secondary: aOR=2.86, 95% CI=1.16 – 7.07), physical activity level (sufficiently active: aOR=0.48, 95% CI=0.24 – 0.95) and nighttime sleep duration (<6 hours: aOR=2.53, 95% CI=1.07 – 5.99) were significantly associated with overweight/obesity. In addition, sex (female: aOR=0.34, 95% CI=0.19–0.59) and nighttime sleep duration (<6 hours: aOR=2.92, 95% CI=1.24–6.86) were associated with thinness. The results suggest that the double burden of malnutrition exist in The Gambia and remains a major public health issue among adolescents. This, therefore, underlined the need for nutritional interventions targeting adolescents. Further research involving the entire country may be required to show the national burden. VL - 6 IS - 3 ER -
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