Abstract

With the current nutrition transition occurring in low-to-middle-income countries (LMICs), incidences of both overweight/obesity and underweight/stunting are increasingly observed within the same population. This is an important phenomenon with regards to adolescent health, as poor nutritional status among adolescents may contribute towards susceptibility to both communicable and non-communicable diseases in adulthood. Research has shown that nutritional status can be affected by socioeconomic status (SES). The objective of this study was to conduct a comparative analysis of the anthropometric status of adolescents from two secondary schools in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa that differ according to the SES of the learners. The study was cross-sectional and descriptive; and was carried out in an urban and a peri-urban high school in Hilton, KwaZulu-Natal. Grade nine to 11 learners (n=111) aged 14 to 21 years from the peri-urban high school and the urban high school (n=98) aged 14 to 17 years, volunteered to participate (N= 209). Anthropometric measurements including weight, height and mid-upper-arm circumference (MUAC) were measured and body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Results showed a higher incidence of overweight (> +1SD - 25kg/m2) and obesity (>+2SD - BMI 30 kg/m2) among urban school boys compared to peri-urban school boys (p -3SD) was observed among peri-urban school boys (p<0.01) compared to their urban school counterparts. Albeit a small sample size, results from this study indicates that SES and gender may play a determinant role in overweight, obesity and stunting prevalence, as boys in urban areas and girls in peri-urban areas may be at a higher risk of overweight/obesity, whereas peri-urban boys may be at a higher risk of stunting. It can also be concluded that a double burden of stunting and overweight/obesity may exist among adolescents from peri-urban areas, who were considered to be of low SES.

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