Socio-demographic determinants of body mass index among school children in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

In different parts of the world, especially in developed countries, studies have shown that both the economic and social context of a child, including a school-age child, are associated with the body mass index (BMI).1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 McKay et al.1 conducted a survey to examine the influence of economic and social context in relation to abnormal weight and the result showed that both social and economic indicators were predictors of having an above-normal BMI. In a study conducted in the United States,2 children from lower-income families had higher prevalence of obesity compared with children from higher-income families. This inverse association was observed among the minority groups in America, such as the Indian, Pacific Island and African children. Grjibovski et al.3 found that maternal education and smoking were significant predictors of breastfeeding duration in the 1980s and that the association with measures of adiposity were observed in 15-year-old children and between the children with shortest and longest breastfeeding duration. Musingo and Wang10 did a study in which they analysed the eating habits of college students in the United States according to socio-demographic characteristics. The result showed that there were some significant differences in cooking habits, eating fruits and vegetables, residential status of students and socio-demographic characteristics. Furthermore, in terms of drinking habits, analysis by gender indicated that there were significant differences between male and female gender. In another study in the United States,6 it was concluded that individual sociodemographic characteristics and school-level socio-demographic composition were associated with obesity among New York City public school children.