Abstract
Background Childhood obesity is currently increasing at an alarming rate worldwide. Childhood obesity research has not been reported in urban Arusha before. This is therefore the first study to investigate the prevalence and predictors of childhood obesity in urban Arusha. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted involving 451 schoolchildren. Overweight was defined to range from 85th to 94th BMI percentile for age and sex while obesity was defined as above 94th BMI percentile for age and sex. Chi-square test was used for comparison between child sex and sociobehaviors, and multiple logistic regression was used to determine the significant predictor factors at P values = 0.05. Results The overall prevalence of overweight and obesity was 17.7% (80/451) with 12.6% (57/451) being obese and 5.1% (23/451) being overweight. Results from univariate logistic regression showed child sex, random sleeping time, and random eating habit were the significant predictor factors. However, when all the predictor factors were used in the final multiple logistic regression model, only random sleeping time and random eating habit of different food items irrespective of their nature were significant at P=0.000, AOR = 4.47, and 95% CI = 2.00–10.01, and P=0.012, AOR = 2.54, and 95% CI = 1.23–5.33, respectively. Conclusions The prevalence of obesity was as higher as twice the prevalence observed in other previous studies in Tanzania. Being a girl, random sleeping time and random eating habit were independent predictors. In addition to larger sample sizes, longitudinal studies are needed in order to track individuals and population level trends in BMI over time.
Highlights
Prevalence of overweight and obesity is on rise worldwide [1, 2] and recently has become a serious global public health concern [3, 4]
Obesity affects all sexes, ages, races, socioeconomic groups, and ethnicities [5,6,7,8]. It has been reported as a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, stroke, and certain forms of cancer [9,10,11]
Tanzania is one among African countries currently experiencing the rapid economic growth, urbanization, and nutrition transition [19,20,21]. erefore, it is apparent that Tanzania is not exempted from the epidemic of childhood obesity [22,23,24,25,26]
Summary
Prevalence of overweight and obesity is on rise worldwide [1, 2] and recently has become a serious global public health concern [3, 4]. Obesity affects all sexes, ages, races, socioeconomic groups, and ethnicities [5,6,7,8]. It has been reported as a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, stroke, and certain forms of cancer [9,10,11]. Erefore, it is apparent that Tanzania is not exempted from the epidemic of childhood obesity [22,23,24,25,26]. There is no published research study on childhood obesity in urban Arusha. There is no published research study on childhood obesity in urban Arusha. erefore, this study will shed light on the extent of the problem among 7to 17-year-old schoolchildren
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