MRIMS Journal of Health Sciences (Jan 2023)
Comparative study to assess the lifestyle disease risk factors among high school students of government and private schools in Tirupati
Abstract
Background: Adolescence is a transitional period of life between childhood and adulthood characterized by marked acceleration of growth both physically and mentally. Objectives: The objective of the study was to assess the lifestyle disease risk factors among high school students of government schools as compared to high school students of private schools. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among high school students of both government and private schools for a period of 2 months in Tirupati. Among 4 government and 4 private schools, 884 high school students were included in the study. A pretested semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect information from students. This includes sociodemographic details, and lifestyle disease risk factors related to knowledge and practices were assessed. Weight and height were measured and body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure were measured with manual sphygmomanometer. Results: Eight hundred and eighty-four students of age between 12 and 16 years were included in the study. Among them, 438 (49.5%) were in private schools and 446 (50.5%) were in government schools. Among all students, 1.1% (9/884) reported that they smoke tobacco products in the past 30 days and 2.3% (20/884) reported smoke tobacco products at any time in life. Most of the private school students (66.4%) were doing regular exercise compared to government school students (56.3%). The mean BMI was significantly high among private school students (18.9 ± 4.3) compared to government school students (18.1 ± 3.9). Conclusions: School is an important place where adolescent behavior was developed and provides environment that influences the development of behavior. The study shows that both government and private school students are equally exposed to risk factors of lifestyle diseases. Therefore, it is recommended that combined and coordinated efforts of health and education departments were required for the primary and primordial prevention of lifestyle diseases.
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