Body Mass Index and Growth Spurt in Teenage School Children of Addis Ababa - the Case of Government Schools
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2018-09-04
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The objective of this study was to assess variation in mean body weight, height and BMI between age and sex cohorts of school teenage children in two government schools of Addis Ababa in grades 7 to 10 (age 13-17 years). A total of 178 male and 179 female students were recruited from the two schools for the study. Recruitment was conducted randomly and only consenting participants who were willing for the body height and weight measurements were included. The results showed that females were on the average taller than males for 13 years old while males were taller for the remaining age groups. In the combined data of males and females, mean height ranged between 1.32m and 1.79m. The highest height increment for females was 2.7% (13 to 14 years) and 4.79% for males (again 13 to 14 years). Females had higher mean weight for 13 and 14 years old but males were heavier for the rest of the age groups. The mean weight range for the combined data was 28.2kg – 67.7kg. The highest body weight increment was 6.8% in females of 13-14 year and 14-15 year categories while those of males was 13.23% (13-14 years). The BMI range was 18.64 kg/m2 - 20.38 kg/m2 (females) and 17.61 kg/m2 – 18.82kg/m2 (males). All age groups of both males and females were within the Normal weight category. Compared to similar studies, the students in the current study were shorter and lighter than those from a private school while they had a comparable height and weight with students from a rural governmental schools.
Description
Keywords
Body Mass Index, Growth Spurt, Weight, Height, Addis Ababa, Government School