Abstract
Background: Studies exploring adolescent dietary patterns (DP) and nutritional status often focus on in-school adolescents with limited data on out-of-school adolescents.
 Methods: We sampled 190 out-of-school adolescents on an apprenticeship in Agbowo community, Ibadan, Nigeria. Anthropometric measurements, weight (kg), and height (cm) were taken (to determine the height-for-age and body-mass-index-for-age z-scores) using the WHO AnthroPlus and WHO cut-off points to classify stunting and overweight/obesity. The frequency of food consumption was assessed using an 84-item food frequency questionnaire. The DP was extrapolated using principal component analysis. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to assess the relationship between sociodemographic variables, anthropometric indices, and DP at P<0.05.
 Results: Mean age was 16.9±1.9 years, 61.6% were females and 58.4% had mothers who had at least secondary education. Overall, 12.1% were stunted and 9.5% were overweight/obese. Stunting was significantly more prevalent (P=0.005) among males (20.5%) than females (6.8%). Males had higher odds for stunting [OR: 3.48 (1.39, 8.75) P=0.008], and a lower odds of adhering to a ‘healthy’ DP; [OR: 0.42 (0.22, 0.80), P=0.009]. Also, adolescents with mothers who had at least a secondary school education were less likely to adhere to an ‘unhealthy’ DP [0.26 (0.11, 0.59), P=0.001].
 Conclusion: Targeted nutrition education is needed to address unhealthy dietary patterns, particularly among out-of-school adolescent boys.
Highlights
Adolescence is a critical stage in life (Ambrosini 2013) that is associated with both physiological and psychological changes (Aparicio et al 2017) that impact nutritional wellbeing and future risk of disease (Das et al 2017, Hu et al 2016)
Sociodemographic factors had no significant relationship with body mass index (BMI)-for-age
This study probed nutritional status, dietary patterns, and associated factors among out-of-school adolescents in Ibadan, Southwestern Nigeria. This was done against a backdrop of scarce reports on this population compared to in-school adolescents
Summary
Adolescence is a critical stage in life (Ambrosini 2013) that is associated with both physiological and psychological changes (Aparicio et al 2017) that impact nutritional wellbeing and future risk of disease (Das et al 2017, Hu et al 2016). The dual burden of undernutrition and over-nutrition among adolescent populations significantly impacts outcomes in adulthood (Hu et al 2016). While dietary patterns represent the diversity, magnitude and/or blend of foods in diets (Sánchez-Villegas and Martínez-Lapiscina 2018) when measured over a period of time, it is a useful determinant in assessing food exposure, nutritional status, and health outcome(s) (Herzog and Cunningham-Rundles 2015, Badimon, Mendieta, and Vilahur 2015) in populations. Studies exploring adolescent dietary patterns (DP) and nutritional status often focus on in-school adolescents with limited data on out-of-school adolescents
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