Associations of lifestyle risk factors with overweight or obesity among adolescents: a multicountry analysis. Issue 3 (31st December 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sultana, Sabera; Rahman, Md Mizanur; Sigel, Byron; Hashizume, Masahiro
• Is Part Of: American journal of clinical nutrition. Volume 113:Issue 3(2021)
• Page Start: 742
• Page End: 750
• Publication Date: 2020-12-31
• Subjects: lifestyle risk score -- overweight -- obesity -- multilevel analysis -- school children -- physical activity -- dietary habit -- sedentary behavior -- tobacco use; Diet therapy -- Periodicals; Nutrition -- Periodicals; Dietetics -- Periodicals; 613.205
• DOI: 10.1093/ajcn/nqaa337
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0002-9165

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Background: About 35% of the global burden of disease has roots in adolescence. Health in adolescence is an important determinant of health in adulthood. Objectives: This study aimed to generate risk scores for lifestyle behaviors among adolescents and to estimate the country-specific prevalence of these risk scores. The study also examined the relations of lifestyle risk scores with overweight or obesity among adolescents. Methods: We used the most recent data available from 20 nationally representative Global School-based Student Health Surveys. Our analytical sample size was 51, 597. The outcome of interest was overweight or obesity. We developed 4 lifestyle risk scores (dietary habits, physical activity, sedentary behavior, and tobacco use), which were used as the exposure variables in this study. Multilevel logistic regression models were used to estimate adjusted ORs with 95% CIs. Results: In total, 18.2% of the participants were overweight or obese. Across countries, the percentage of adolescents with unhealthy dietary habits ranged from 76.7% (the Cook Islands) to 94.2% (Timor-Leste), physical inactivity ranged from 47.5% (Bangladesh) to 90.1% (the Philippines), and sedentary behavior ranged from 34.5% (Nepal) to 88.2% (Kuwait). Girls engaged in less physical activity than did boys. Increased odds of overweight or obesity were found among participants with high risk scores for physical inactivity (OR: 1.19; 95% CI: 1.11, 1.27) and for unhealthy sedentary behavior (OR: 1.25; 95% CI: 1.16, 1.35) compared with participants with low risk scores. Girls with high tobacco risk scores had higher odds (OR: 1.30; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.65) of overweight or obesity than did girls with low risk scores for tobacco use, whereas there were no significant differences in risk in boys. Conclusions: Unhealthy lifestyle behaviors were quite prevalent among adolescents, and higher lifestyle risk scores increased the risk of overweight or obesity.