Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity among Primary School Children in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

To determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity among primary school children in Port Harcourt.

A stratified multi-staged sampling technique was used to recruit pupils from primary schools in Port Harcourt. Data was collected using questionnaires completed by parents. The average of two measurements of height and weight were taken and BMI was calculated manually. Using the BMI for age charts developed by the US National Centre for Health Statistics in collaboration with the National Centre for Chronic Diseases Prevention and Health Promotion, overweight was defined as BMI greater than the 85th but less than the 95th percentile and obesity as BMI equal to or greater than the 95th percentile.

A total of 1302 pupils (585 (44.9%) males and 717 (55.1%) females) were studied. Seventy five (5.8%) of the pupils were overweight while 77 (5.9%) were obese. The prevalence of overweight and obesity of 127 (15.5%) among younger children was higher than that of 25 (5.2%) among the older children (p < 0.001). Female pupils had a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity (12.8%) compared to male pupils (10.3%). A higher prevalence of overweight and obesity was found among the higher (18.1%) than among the lower (2.4%) social class (p < 0.001).

The prevalence of overweight and obesity in primary school children in Port Harcourt, Nigeria is 5.8% and 5.9% respectively. Children from higher socioeconomic class were significantly more overweight and obese than those from lower socioeconomic classes.