Prevalence of Underweight: A Matter of Concern among Adolescents in Osun State, Nigeria

Prevalence of undernutrition among adolescents in developing world has shown a decline during the last decade. Adolescents make up approximately 20% of the world's population. There is a dearth of research on adolescent nutrition in developing countries. The aim of this cross sectional study was to determine the prevalence of undernutrition, overweight and obesity as measured by Body Mass Index (BMI) in a representative sample of adolescents aged 10-19 years in Osun State of Nigeria. Adolescents (n = 401) from 32 schools in urban and rural districts of the state responded to a sociodemographic questionnaire. Body mass index for age was calculated and the prevalence of underweight, overweight and obesity was determined based on WHO/NCHS value of <5th, 85th and 95th percentiles respectively. The results consisted of 182 boys and 219 girls. The prevalence of underweight was 20.1% in the study area, which was higher among the rural adolescents (22.4%) than urban (18.7%) and 25.8% and 15.1% among boys and girls respectively. The prevalence of overweight was 3.2% with 4.1% from urban and 1.5% from rural, while 1.1% were boys and 5.0% were girls. Only 0.5% urban girls were obese. Prevalence of underweight was significantly higher in boys at mid adolescence (24.2%, p<0.02), boys who were involved in jobs after school hours (13.7%, p<0.06) and who do not travel regularly (22.5%, p<0.12). While among girls who reside with extended family member (11.9%, p<0.05). In conclusion, adolescents living in Osun state, Nigeria are at high risk of underweight.