Prevalence and predictors of under nutrition among adolescents in Tanahun District, Nepal

Abstract

Adolescent is the period of physical, psychological and social maturing from childhood to adulthood. The term adolescent refers to individuals between the ages of 10-19 years and the age group 15-19 years known as late adolescents. This study aims to identify the prevalence and predictors of under nutrition among the late adolescents in Tanahun District, Nepal. The study design was school based cross-sectional and conducted at 12 higher secondary schools of Tanahun district using multistage stratified sampling. The study applied the self-administered questionnaires and anthropometric assessment. The mean age of the adolescent was 17.43 years and two thirds were female. More than half of the respondents were janajatis followed by bhrahmin/chhetri and dalits. 18% of the respondents were underweight. The mean weight and height of the respondent were 51.46 kg and 159.65 cm. The mean BMI was calculated as 20.11 with SD 2.81. Sex of the adolescents, ethnicity and type of family was found to be associated with underweight. Having the milk/milk product which was two times more chances of having underweight those who drinks milk daily compare to those not having milk/milk product (OR 1.171, CI: 1.100-2.243). The daily of milk/milk product had a significantly associated with underweight by 1.44 times greater than those having milk/milk product. Those adolescents who were involves on any type of sports had 1.58 times more chances of having underweight than those not involved on sports activities (OR 1.587, CI: 1.114-2.262). The study found diverse results regarding under nutrition of adolescents in the study area. The present study indicates that nutritional status of adolescent is not satisfactory as one fifth of the adolescents were Undernourished. This study also focuses on some other contributing factors which may affect adolescent nutrition like socio-economic status, maternal working status, family type and family size, eating habits and personal habits. There is much scope for the improvement of their nutritional status. The most important predictors identified for underweight were adolescent's sex, cast and types of family (p < 0.05).