Parameters of nutrition in school girls in southwestern Nigeria

Objectives: To document trends in parameters of nutrition in southwestern Nigerian school girls in comparison with earlier reports and provide baseline data for future comparison. Design: A cross-sectional study. Setting: Fifteen secondary schools from the five local governments in Ibadan, Oyo State in south-western Nigeria. Subjects: One thousand six hundred and seventy five apparently healthy female students aged between nine and twenty three years. Results: One thousand six hundred and seventy three questionnaires were analysed. The mean age, mean height and mean body weight were 15.45 years ± 2.06 (SD), 154.98cm ± 8.4(SD) and 46.09kg ± 8.8 (SD) respectively. The mean body fat was 11.12kg ± 4.6 (SD); mean lean body mass (LBM) was 34.96kg ± 4.6 (SD); mean total body water (TBW) was 25.17L ± 3.3 (SD) and the mean body index (BMI) was 19.07kg/m2 ± 2.7 (SD). Girls from upper socio-economic background had significantly higher values of anthropometric measurements and body composition for each age than lower socioeconomic class girls. Compared with their peers from another Nigerian city investigated two decades ago, girls in this study were significantly lighter and shorter. Conclusion: The study revealed a decline in nutritional parameters among adolescents. The implications of these findings for the reproductive health of Nigerian women are discussed. Serial studies to monitor trends in adolescents are recommended.