Final report on screening for non-communicable diseases risk factors among adolescents of higher secondary schools in state Four, Nepal.

Research Report.

ABSTRACT: Background: There is a strong concern for adolescents, because although NCDs manifest largely in adulthood, the precursors of their conditions manifest during childhood and adolescence.This study has attempted to conduct screening activities and determine the prevalence of major NCD risk factors among public and private higher secondary school (HSS) students of grade 11 and 12 in State four of Nepal. Methods:A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted among HSS students from October 2017 to June 2018.In total 409 HSS students were recruited through simple random sampling from 12 schools in three strata (Baglung, Kaski and Nawalparashi). Self administered questionnaire was used as data collection tool along with other tools such as UNICEF electronic weighing scale,stature meter and mechanical aneroid sphygmomanometer for measuring weight, height and blood pressure respectively. Ethical approval and permission were obtained from the concerned authorities. Pretesting of study tools was conducted among HSS students in Lekhnath. Data were entered in EpiData software and analyzed in Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). Results: Around less than 1/10th (6.4%) of participants had hypertension which has high percent in public students (8.6%) than private students (4%). Similarly, there was significant difference in mean systolic BP (116.27, 113.02, p=0.006) and diastolic BP (76.62, 74.67, p=0.03) between public and private students. Males were more likely to have hypertension than females. Prevalence of obesity was 5.9% whereas, students from private schools were more overweight (9.0%) than from public schools (2.9%). There was significant difference in mean BMI for public students and private students (19.18, 20.25 kg/m2, p=0.001). Conclusions:Prevalence of hypertension washigh in public school students than private, whilestudents from private schools were more overweight than those from public schools. Higher percentage of students belonging to private schools consumed tobacco and alcohol than those from public schools. Students had higher preference for moderate exercise than vigorous exercise.Further studies are required to generate evidence on prevalence of risky behaviors among HSS students associating with NCDs. Key Words: Risk factors, Non-communicable diseases, Adolescent, Public students, private students