Factors associated with overweight and obesity among postgraduate African students in UPM, 2017

Introduction: Globally, overweight and obesity are the major public health problem. World Health Organization (WHO) estimated about 1.9 billion adults were overweight out of which more than 600 million were obese in 2014. In a foreign country, student’s lifestyle and behaviour including eating pattern changes very quickly leading to unhealthy habits, which may have negative effect on their health. The changes in the body mass index (BMI) of a foreign student is influenced by various complex factors involving exposure to more stress, sedentary lifestyle, accessibility and availability to familiar food, limited finances, irregular class schedules and overload, and spending more time on studying with less physical activities leading to increased or decreased intake of food or dependence of fast food with less nutritional value. Objectives: The objective of the study was to determine the factors associated with overweight and obesity among postgraduate African students in UPM. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted among postgraduate African students in UPM. Data was collected using pre-tested self-administered structured questionnaire. The questionnaire consist of four sections, which include: a) sociodemographic, b) behavioural factors (International Physical Activity Questionnaire – IPAQ), c) eating pattern and d) psychological factors (The short version of the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Questionnaire – DASS). Weight and height was measured and converted to BMI. The study analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23. Descriptive statistics (frequency and percentage) was used to summarise categorical data while continuous variables like age were converted into categorical. The association between two categorical variables was done using Chi square. At the end multiple logistic regression was used to determine predictors of overweight and obesity. Results: Five hundred and fifty nine students participated in this study out of which 432 (77.3%) were males and 127 (22.7%) were females. The proportion of overweight and obesity were 30.4% and 6.1% respectively. In multiple logistic regression, the significant predictors were: advancing age, with age group of 30 – 39 years (AOR=2.209; 95%CI=1.048 – 4.657) and 40 – 49 age group (AOR=2.530; 95%CI=1.043 – 6.134), being male gender (AOR=2.037; 95%CI 1.130 – 3.672), being married (AOR=3.686; 95%CI=1.783 – 7.620), low physical activity level (AOR=2.478, 95%CI=1.191 – 5.157) and alcohol consumption (AOR=2.999, 95%CI=1.667 – 5.396). Conclusion: The significant predictors of overweight and obesity were advancing age, being male gender, being married, low physical activity, and alcohol consumption. Campaigns to increase awareness about the importance of health as well as the danger of alcohol consumption among students. Physical activity exercises/competition among the students.

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