Prevalence of supplement use in recreationally active Kazakhstan university students

Abstract

Background

Little is known about the supplements use and recreational sport practices in Kazakhstan university students. Therefore, the aim of this study was to ascertain supplements use prevalence and their predictors in this population.

Methods

Cross-sectional survey of both undergraduate and graduate level students was completed in 2017 et al.-Farabi Kazakh National University, the largest higher institution in the country, from almost all Schools. A 45-item questionnaire was used to record physical activity, supplements use, lifestyle attributes (smoking, alcohol, sleep, etc.) and eating habits, and adjusted regression models were used to verify predictors of supplements use.

Results

Of the entire sample of 889 students (70% females), 526 (59%) were practicing recreational physical activity (RPA), and walking, jogging and track and field was the most popular activity type (38%). N = 151 (29%) students reported the use of any supplement (31% in men and 27% in women), whereas the most popular supplement type were vitamins. Supplement use was most prevalent in swimmers (55%). Age (odds ratio (OR) 1.19 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.04–1.37), use of fitness tracker (OR 6.26 (95% CI 3.90–10.03)) and low-fat diet (OR 1.95 (95% CI 1.23–3.10)), but not income predicted supplements use in adjusted models.

Conclusions

With more than half of students exercising regularly, only less than one-third use supplements with a very strong association with fitness tracker use.

Keywords:

• Physical activity
• Cross-sectional
• Swimming

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all participating students, as well as the Dean of the School of Public Health of the University, Zhanna Kalmataeva.

Funding

There was no funding for this analysis.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Authors’ contributions

DV designed the study, analysed the data and drafted the manuscript. ZR designed the study and approved the final version of the manuscript. AD, KS and ZU collected and analysed data, and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study was approved by a Committee on Bioethics of the School of Public Health et al.-Farabi Kazakh National University, and each participant provided a written informed consent to participate.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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