Abstract
Objective. To identify factors associated with overweight/obesity among adolescents in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Methods. In 2004, a cross-sectional survey was conducted using multi-stage cluster sampling. Weight and height of 2 678 students from 31 junior high schools in Ho Chi Minh City were measured. Dietary intake and physical activity were assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire and a physical activity questionnaire. Parental, household and neighbourhood characteristics were also collected. Factors associated with overweight/obesity in adolescents were modelled using hierarchical, multivariate logistic regression. “Survey commands” in STATA were used to account for the multi-stage cluster sampling design. Results. After adjusting for other study factors, the odds of overweight/obesity was significantly higher for male gender (OR=3.1, 95% CI: 1.8, 3.8), younger age (OR=3.4, 95% CI: 2.1, 5.3), schools located in wealthy districts (OR=2.5, 95% CI: 1.8, 3.4), higher family economic status (OR=1.9, 95% CI: 1.1, 4.9), higher parental education (OR=2.0, 95% CI: 1.4, 2.9), overweight or obese parents (OR=3.5, 95% CI: 1.7, 7.0), more time spent watching TV (OR=4.3, 95% CI: 1.3, 14.7), frequent consumption of soft drinks (OR=3.0, 95% CI: 1.6, 5.3) and more time studying after class (OR=2.9, 95% CI: 1.7, 4.9). The odds of overweight/obesity was lower with the availability of fruit at home (OR=0.5, 95% CI: 0.3, 0.7), frequent consumption of fruit/vegetables (OR=0.3, 95% CI: 0.2, 0.4) and being physically active (OR=0.5, 95% CI: 0.4, 0.8). Conclusions. Family/parental factors as well as children’s lifestyle should be taken into account when planning interventions to prevent adolescent obesity.
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Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the staff from Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine and from the Nutrition Centre, Ho Chi Minh City in data collection and entry. The Ministry of Education and Training, Government of Vietnam, provided a PhD scholarship to the first author. The 2004 survey was funded by a grant from the Nestlé Foundation, Switzerland, and additional funds from the Nutrition Centre, Ho Chi Minh City.
Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.
No author has any financial and personal relationships with other people or organisations that could inappropriately influence (bias) our work.
The corresponding author has full access to all the data in the study and had final responsibility for the decision to submit for publication.
Authors’ contributions
Tang K. Hong conducted the data analysis and prepared the manuscript, Nguyen H. H. D. Trang and Michael J. Dibley contributed to the data analysis and preparation of the manuscript, David Sibbritt provided advice for data analysis and Phan N. T. Binh and Tran T. M. Hanh managed data collection and entry, and contributed to the data analysis.