Overweight and obesity among public and private primary school children in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

Obesity is on therise in developing countries, especially in urban areas. In this study, across-sectional study was conducted in two divisions in Nairobi province todetermine the prevalence of and some risk factors associated with overweightand obesity among school children in Nairobi, Kenya. It involved 344 schoolchildren aged 9-14 years drawn from four randomly selected public and privateprimary schools. Weight and height were measured and body mass index was calculated.Nutrition status was determined using the World Health Organization age andgender specific BMI-for-age Z-scores (BAZ). The chi-square test was used todetermine the relationship between overweight/obesity and selected socio-demographiccharacteristics. Complete anthropometric measurements were available for 321children. Prevalence of combined overweight and obesity (BAZ > +1SD) was19.0%, with prevalence being higher among girls (21.0%) than boys (16.9%) (p = 0.632). The prevalence amongchildren in private schools was significantly higher (29.0%) than among thosein public schools (11.5%) (p = 0.000).In addition, being a single child (p =0.020), birth order (p = 0.017),mother’s occupation (p = 0.023) andtype of residence (p = 0.028) werepositively associated with overweight/obesity. The prevalence of overweight/obesitydetermined in this study is high and is a public health concern, with girlsparticularly at risk of becoming overweight.