期刊名称：Journal of Nutritional Science and Vitaminology
印刷版ISSN：0301-4800
电子版ISSN：1881-7742
出版年度：2005
卷号：51
期号：4
页码：231-238
DOI：10.3177/jnsv.51.231
出版社：Center for Academic Publications Japan
摘要：There is scarce information on the relative importance of socioeconomic factors in determining the adolescent anthropometric measurements. The objective of this study was to examine the effects of economic status, education level, and food consumption on the height and weight of community adolescents in Nepal. The study was done in the communities of the Kathmandu Valley area in Nepal. All together 42 6 unmarried adolescent girls aged 14-19 y were selected, The adolescents were interviewed regarding socioeconomic background (education, occupation and property possessions) and frequency of foods consumption. Height and weight were determined and BMI was calculated. Z-scores of height-for-age and weight-for-age were calculated based on the WHO/NCHS standard to avoid bias by age. The adolescents participating in the survey were categorized into three groups using the various indicators of economic status: Low Economic Status (LES) group, Middle Economic Status (MES) group and High Economic Status (HES) group. The Z-scores of height and weight were significantly lower in the LES group than in the MES and HES groups ( p <0.05). The Z-score of height was significantly increased with education level even under the condition of controlling economic level ( p <0.05). Since the frequency of milk consumption was significantly related not only with height ( p <0.05), but also with economic ( X 2=3 df=4, p <0.001) and education levels ( X 2=22.4, df=6, p <0.01), the increased height in the groups of the better economic status or the better education level was interpreted to be due to the outcome of the higher frequency of milk consumption. This study indicated that education was a more important factor affecting the height of the adolescents via improved food habits even under adverse economic conditions.
