Nutritional Status and School Performance of Primary School Children in Ogun State, Nigeria (original) (raw)

2018, Journal of Nutritional Health & Food Science

The nutritional status of school-aged children impacts their health, cognition, and their educational achievement while poor health and malnutrition impair both the growth and cognitive development of primary school children. This study was carried out to assess the nutritional status and school performance of primary school children in Ogun state, Nigeria. A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1200 pupils age 6-12 years old selected from 12 public Primary schools using multi-stage sampling techniques. Interviewer administered questionnaires were used to collect information on the socio-demographic variables of the subjects and also social economic variables of subject parents or guardians. Information on school performance was collected from the Ogun State Unified Examination record record from State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB). A 24 hour dietary recall method was used to collect information on the specific food intakes and usual portion sizes. Anthropometric measurements were measured using an electronic food weighing scale and height using a stadiometer. Data collected were subjected to descriptive, t-test and Chisquare statistics. Data on food intake were converted to nutrient intake using Total Diet Assessment software. Body Mass Index for age (BMI-forAge) was calculated from anthropometric data generated using WHO Anthro software. Results shows that the mean and standard deviation age of the respondents were 11.04 ± 1.082 years while the minimum and maximum age was 8 years and 12 years old respectively. The mean weight range of the respondents was, 19.00kg to 70.00kg respectively. The mean height range was, 1.18m to 1.63m. The mean mathematics, English Language, social studied scores was 58.64 ± 13.740, 61.14 ± 14.086, 64.88 ±14.386 while minimum and maximum score were 20% and 99%, 19% and 99%, 18% and 97% respectively. Less than (47.1%) of the respondents have normal nutritional status while 45.80% were underweight, females were more underweight than male while male were overweight and obese than the female. School performance of the Respondents, 70.3% of the respondents had average score in mathematics, 22.3 % performed excellently and 7.4% had poor performance. Over half of the respondents, 69.3% had average score in English language while 26.2% were excellent and 4.6% were poor. 57.8% had average performance, 38.2 % had excellent and 4.0% had poor performances in social studies. Majority of the respondents had inadequate energy intake (83.8%), 2.0% had excess energy intake while 14.3% are adequate energy intake, more than half of respondents (54.3%) Carbohydrate intakes were inadequate while 39.8% had adequate carbohydrate intake and 5.9% had excess intake of carbohydrate. For Protein, 80.0% had inadequate protein intake, 17.3% had adequate protein intake while 2.8 had excess intake. 97.5% of the respondent had inadequate Fat intake while 1.8% had adequate intake and 0.8 had excess intake. 72.7% of the respondents had inadequate intake of Vitamin A, 17.0% had adequate intake, 10.3% had excess intake, for Vitamin C, 99.0% had inadequate intake, 0.8%, had adequate intake, 0.3% had excess, 46.0% had inadequate intake of Folate, 21.5%, had adequate intake, 32.5% had excess intake, for Calcium, 98.8% of the respondents had inadequate intake, 0.8%, had adequate intake, 0.4% had excess intake, 89.0% of the respondents had inadequate of Zinc, 10.5 had adequate intake and 0.5% had excess intake, for Iron 51.0% of the respondents had inadequate intake, 34.3% had adequate intake and 14.8% had excess intake. Significant relationship existed between the Height-forAge , BMI-forAge and school performance of the respondents, as height of the pupils increases there is an increase in their school performance and their body mass index have a positive effect on their school performance which were significant (p ≤ 0.05) except mathematics score.