Overweight/Obesity and associated factors among preschool children in Gondar City, Northwest Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Overweight and obesity among children has emerged as one of the most serious public health concerns in the 21st century, which is a predictor of adulthood obesity, morbidity and mortality. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of overweight /obesity and associated factors among preschool children. METHODS: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted in Gondar City from February 14 to March 4, 2016. Multi stage sampling technique was used to select a total of 504 preschool children. Data were collected using structured interviewer administered questionnaire and anthropometric measurements. Data were entered using Epidata version 3.1 and analyzed using SPSS version 20 and WHO 2007 Anthro version 2.0.4 software. Both bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis were performed to identify associated factors. P values <0.05 with 95% confidence level were used to declare statistical significance. RESULTS: A total of 500 study participants were included with 99.2% response rate and 51.6% were girls while 48.4% were boys. The mean (±SD) age of participants was 47.68 ±7.19 months. The combined prevalence of overweight /obesity was 13.8% (95%CI; 10.6, 17.2) the specific being 9.6% for overweight and 4.2% for obesity. The multivariable analysis indicated that the age group between 36–47 months [AOR = 2.38 (95%CI; 1.27,4.46)],high dietary diversity[AOR = 3.73(95%CI;1.15,12.54),consumption of sweet food[AOR = 2.69 (95%CI,1.21, 5.98)],time spent in watching television>2hr/day [AOR = 4.01 (95%CI;2.22, 7.26)] and mother’s education at secondary level [AOR = 0.35 (95% CI; 0.12, 0.96)] were associated with overweight/obesity among preschool children. CONCLUSIONS: Once considered a high income country problem, result of this study in urban city like Gondar reveals that overweight/obesity is on the rise in urban Ethiopia, which indicates the need for formulating preventive programs and policies during a child’s early years.