ABSTRACT

 This research is based on an assessment of body fat in primary school children aged 6-9 in urban communities in Umuahia North, South, and Ikwuano L.G.A in Abia State. It is a cross-sectional study design. A multistage sampling was used to select the children. Nine schools were selected randomly from a list of schools in Umuahia North and South respectively as well as Ikwano Local Government Area. Children within the ages of 6-9 were the respondents and were randomly selected from primary one to six to obtain the sample size of 220. Information on socio-demographic characteristics was collected using a questionnaire. Height and weight were measured and MUAC tape was used to assess anthropometric status. WHO Anthro plus survey software was used to classify children based on weight-for–age, height-for-age and BMI-for-age. Children with z-scores of <-2 SD were classified as stunted and wasted. Z-scores of >+1SD were classified as overweight/obese. Body fat percentage was assessed directly with an Omron BF-511 weighing machine using the bioelectrical impedance technique. Body fat percentage among the children was classified into low, normal and high according to the Omron healthcare study data. Dietary pattern of the primary school children was obtained using Dietary Diversity Score (DDS). Dietary diversity was assessed using a 24 hour dietary recall. Information obtained was graded based on FAO recommendations. DDS was classified as low (≤5), moderate (6-8) and high (>9). Data obtained from this study were analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequencies, percentages) and Pearson's correlation (Chi-square test). Significance was accepted at P<0.05. The result obtained revealed, (64.1%) of the children attended private school, (37.7%) of the children were 9 years old and more than half of children (53.6%) were females.The result further depicts that birth weight of 3.0-3.4kg was 40.5%. It also futher revealed that more than half (51.8%) of the mothers were between the ages of 26 - 30 years, fathers (51.4%) and mothers (61.8%) had tertiary level of education. The majority of the children consumed more of cereals (97.7), vegetables (98.2%) and meat (95.5%). Majority of the children (93.6) had a high Dietary Diversity Score (DDS), while 6.4% had a moderate Dietary Diversity Score (DDS). None of the children had low DDS. The study reported the prevalence of wasting at 6.8%, stunting 7.7%, overweight 7.3% and body fat at 8.2%, only 2.3% of the children had low body fat. There was no significant association (p-value <0.05) between the Dietary Diversity Scores (DDS) and anthropometric status. However, a significant association (p-value <0.05) was found between body fat and the estimated monthly income of father (p=0.020) and mother (0.030), father’s educational level (p=0.030) and father’s age (p=0.017). The study revealed consumption pattern amongst the children and diversity amongst the food group as consumed by the children and about 8.2% of the children had high body fat. It is recommended that more awareness and sensitization should be made to encourage parents to give more meats, fish and milk and milk product to their kids in order to eliminate the ideologies regarding the consumption of this food groups and ensure optimum nutritional status