ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to assess childhood obesity and eating behaviour among preschool children in Igbo- Etiti Local Government Area (L.G.A), Enugu State. Data for this report was obtained from a cross-sectional survey of 163 children aged 2-4 years from 7 seven schools. Simple random sampling was used in selecting the preschool children. A structured questionnaire was used to collect information on the background information of the preschool children, socioeconomic characteristics, lifestyle activities, and their eating behaviour. Anthropometric measurement was collected and grouped using WHO anthroPlus. Data collected were analyzed using statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 20.0 using descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentage, mean and standard deviation, regression and correlation . The results of the different variables collected reveals that half (50.9%) were male and (49.1%) were female. Majority (91.4%) were Christians. The study population was dominated by (96.9%) Igbo’s and (93.5%) were married. 53.4% completed secondary schooleducation and 37.4% were business men / traders. 47.9% earned #18,000-#29,999. 73.0% spent time at home after school hour. However, (73.6%) eat and play with their mates. More than half (54.0%) engage in football. About (52.8%) always trekked to school. Majority (74.2%) of children sometimes engaged in television viewing. 44.2% of the children often loved food. Less than half (42.3%) of the children do not eat more when annoyed. Less than half (43.6%) would often have a drink if given the chance. 41.1% always eats more when happy. 41.1% of the children sometimes leave food on the plate at the end of a meal. 31.9% of the children sometimes ate more and more slowly during the course of a meal. 32.5% of the children rarely decide a food to like even without tasting it. Weight-for-height status of the children some (38%) were normal while 25.8% were obese. The BMI-for-age showed that 38% were normal, 15.3% overweight and27.6% obese. Pearson correlation shows that there was no significance difference (P>0.05) between socioeconomic characteristics, lifestyle and eating behavior. The prevalence of overweight and obesity observed in this study was high, there is need for the parents to be educated on importance of adopting good eating habit and lifestyle pattern