Behavioral Risk Factors for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) among Adolescents in Mahalaxmi Municipality of Lalitpur District, Nepal: A School-Based Cross-Sectional Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70280/njph(2024)v1i1.5Keywords:
Adolescents, Nepal, Non-communicable diseases, Risk factorsAbstract
Background
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading causes of global mortality, with high prevalence in low- and middle-income countries. In Nepal, adolescents face rising NCD risk factors such as smoking, alcohol use, and poor diet.
Objective
To assess the prevalence of behavioural risk factors for non-communicable diseases and their association with socio-demographic characteristics among school-going adolescents of a municipality of Lalitpur District, Nepal.
Methods
This cross-sectional descriptive study assessed the behavioural risk factors for non-communicable diseases among school adolescents in a municipality, Lalitpur District. We used stratified random sampling to select 316 students from grades 11 and 12. We used Global school-based student health survey (GSHS) tools to collect data. We estimated prevalence of NCD risk factors among school adolescents. Binary logistic regression was applied to determine the factors associated with prevalence of NCDs risk factors.
Results
The prevalence of behavioural risk factors related to major non-communicable diseases including unhealthy diet, insufficient physical activity, alcohol consumption, and tobacco consumption are 99.4%, 94.3%, 7.9% and 6.6% respectively. The prevalence of at least two risk factors is 94.9%. The female school going adolescents were more likely to have prevalence of NCD risk factors (AOR: 6.12; 95% CI: 1.64, 22.80).
Conclusion
This study revealed a high prevalence of behavioural risk factors for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) among school adolescents, including unhealthy diets and insufficient physical activity. Majority of the participants had at least two NCD risk factors, which tends to persist into adulthood. To address this, the study recommends holistic, evidence-based interventions targeting these risk factors. Schools and local authorities should implement health education regarding healthy diet and physical activity, promotion of extracurricular activities, and nutritional programs in schools, and enforcement of laws against selling alcohol and tobacco to adolescents.
References
1. World Health Organization. Noncommunicable diseases [Internet]. 2022. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/noncommunicable-diseases
2. Schlabach A, Guragain B, Marx B, Espesete D, Shirilla B, Warbrick J, et al. Non-communicable disease risk factors and prevalence within Thaha, Makwanpur, Nepal: A cross-sectional study. J Glob Health Rep. 2021;5.
3. Pan American Health Organization. Non-communicable diseases in children, adolescents and young adults – A visual summary [Internet]. Available from: https://www.paho.org/en/enlace/noncommunicable-diseases-children-adolescents-and-young-adults-visual-summary#rf.
4. Akseer N, Mehta S, Wigle J, Chera R, Brickman ZJ, Al-Gashm S, et al. Non-communicable diseases among adolescents: current status, determinants, interventions and policies. BMC Public Health. 2020 Dec 1;20(1).
5. Hazreen MA, Su TT, Jalaludin MY, Dahlui M, Chinna K, Ismail M, et al. An exploratory study on risk factors for chronic non-communicable diseases among adolescents in Malaysia: Overview of the Malaysian Health and Adolescents Longitudinal Research Team study (The MyHeART study). In: BMC Public Health. BioMed Central; 2014.
6. Shrestha S, Paudel RK, Shrestha N. Prevalence of Behavioral Risk Factors of Non Communicable Diseases among Adolescents of Higher Secondary Schools of Lalitpur District in Nepal. 2017; Available from: www.phdcentre.edu.
7. Singh A, Bassi S, Nazar GP, Saluja K, Park MH, Kinra S, et al. Impact of school policies on non-communicable disease risk factors - a systematic review. BMC Public Health. 2017 Apr 4;17(1).
8. Dhungana RR, Bista B, Pandey AR, De Courten M. Prevalence, clustering and sociodemographic distributions of non-communicable disease risk factors in nepalese adolescents: Secondary analysis of a nationwide school survey. BMJ Open. 2019 May 17;9(5).
9. Tandon K, Adhikari N, Adhikari B, Pradhan PMS. Co-occurrence of non-communicable disease risk factors and its determinants among school-going adolescents of Kathmandu Metropolitan City. PLoS One. 2022 Aug 1;17(8 August).
10. Hallal PC, Andersen LB, Bull FC, Guthold R, Haskell W EU. Global physical activity levels: surveillance progress, pitfalls, and prospects. The lancet. 2012 Jul 21;380(9838):247-57.
11. Tsitsimpikou C, Tsarouhas K, Vasilaki F, Papalexis P, Dryllis G, Choursalas A, et al. Health risk behaviors among high school and university adolescent students. Exp Ther Med. 2018;16(4):3433–8.
12. Bhaskar RK, Sah MN, Gaurav K, Bhaskar SC, Singh R, Yadav MK, et al. Prevalence and correlates of tobacco use among adolescents in the schools of Kalaiya, Nepal: A cross-sectional questionnaire based study. Tob Induc Dis. 2016 Mar 31;14(1).
13. Dhimal M, Bista B, Bhattarai S, Dixit LP, Hyder MK, Agrawal N, et al. Noncommunicable Disease Risk Factors: STEPS Survey Nepal 2019 [Internet]. 2020. Available from: https://nhrc.gov.np/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/NEPAL%E2%80%93Noncommunicable-disease-risk-factors-STEPS-Survey-2019-%E2%80%93-Tobacco-Factsheet.pdf.
14. Mridha M, Hasan M, Khan S, Hossain M, Sutradhar I. Women Are More Vulnerable to Non-communicable Diseases in Rural and Urban Bangladesh (P18-082-19). Nutritional Epidemiology.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Aman Gurmaita, Sujata Shakya
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
All articles published in the Nepal Journal of Public Health (NJPH) are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License. This license allows others to:
- Share: Copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.
- Adapt: Remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
Under the following terms:
- Attribution: Appropriate credit must be given, a link to the license must be provided, and any changes made must be indicated. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
For more details about the license, please visit the Creative Commons website.
