Prevalence and Predictors of Obesity among 7- to 17-Year-Old Schoolchildren in Urban Arusha, Tanzania

Table 6

Prevalence of overweight and obesity by dietary habits based on univariate logistic regression.

Food items	Overall		Underweight		Normal		Overweight		Obese		value	OR and 95% CI
	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%
Meal frequency
Skipped lunch	36	100	25	69.4	2	5.6	3	8.3	6	16.7
No skipped meal	242	100	154	63.6	39	16.1	9	3.7	40	16.5	0.802	1.53, 0.56–4.15
Skipped breakfast	57	100	35	61.4	5	8.8	4	7	13	22.8	0.399	1.16, 0.35–3.79
Eating places
Home	170	100	98	57.7	28	16.5	9	5.3	35	20.5
Home and away from home	165	100	116	70.3	18	10.9	7	4.2	24	14.5	0.121	0.64, 0.36–1.12
Lunch at Home
Ate lunch every day at home	190	100	120	63.2	24	12.6	8	4.2	38	20
Ate lunch often away from home	145	100	94	64.8	22	15.2	8	5.5	21	14.5	0.37	1.28, 0.74–2.23
School dietary preference
Ate fried foods	124	100	27	21.8	81	65.3	3	2.4	13	10.5	0.541	0.79, 0.37–1.67
Ate refined boiled maize	114	100	17	14.9	80	70.2	6	5.3	11	9.6
Ate nothing	5	100	1	20	3	60	0	0	1	20	0.757	1.42, 0.07–10.39
Ate any food	81	100	11	13.6	44	54.3	8	9.9	18	22.2	0.005	2.69, 1.35–5.48
Ate food containing more sugars	12	100	3	25	6	50	0	0	3	25	0.369	1.90, 0.39–7.15
Snacks eaten at school
Yes	288	100	50	17.3	181	62.6	16	5.5	42	14.5	0.141	2.07, 0.78–5.47
No	47	100	9	19.1	33	70.2	1	2.1	4	8.5

Reference groups. OR = odds ratio and CI = confidential intervals.