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INTRODUCTION SOIL-TRANSMITTED HELMINTHES CONTINUE TO BE THE MOST PREVALENT CHRONIC INFECTIONS OF HUMANS, WITH AN ESTIMATED 2 BILLION INDIVIDUALS INFECTED WORLDWIDE. THE MAJOR PATHOGENIC SPECIES OF HUMANS ARE ASCARIS LUMBRICOIDES, TRICHURIS TRICHURA, ANCYL
Abstract
Background: The nutritional status of children is a good indicator of the overall well-being of a society and reflects food security as well as existing health-care and environmental conditions. Despite the link between malnutrition and its adverse effect on the learning ability of children, few studies have documented the extent of the problem in south western Nigeria. This study was therefore undertaken to assess and compare the nutritional status and academic performance of urban and rural primary school children in Obafemi-Owode LGA, Ogun State, identify determinants of nutritional status and assess any association between nutritional status and academic performance.
Methodology: A cross sectional, analytical study of urban and rural primary school children was conducted between May and July 2008. Using interviewer administered questionnaire, data were collected on respondents’ socio-demographic characteristics, parents’ socio-demographic characteristics, respondents’ nutritional status and respondents’ academic history. Nutritional status was assessed using anthropometric measurements while academic performance was assessed using scores obtained in the English Language and Arithmetic tests that were conducted. Physical examination was
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also done. Blood samples for packed cell volume (PCV) and malaria parasite were taken using the finger-pricking technique while stool samples for parasite ova were collected by the participants from home. Using EPI-INFO version 6.03, children were classified as stunted, underweight and wasted if z-scores of height-for-age, weight-for-age and weight-for-height were less than 2 standard deviations below the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)/WHO median. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.0.
Results: A total of 1,160 primary school children were studied; 606 (52.2%) from rural schools and 554 (47.8%) from urban schools. At the urban schools, there were 287 (51.8%) males and 267 (48.2%) females compared to 346 (57.1%) males and 260 (42.9%) females at the rural schools. Prevalence of stunting, wasting and underweight among rural school children, 46.2%, 9.1% and 42.1% respectively were significantly (p = < 0.001) higher than those for urban children 33.8%, 2.3% and 22.6% respectively. Poor dental hygiene (p = <0.001) and helminthic infections (p = <0.001) were significantly higher among rural children compared with urban children. Male respondents in rural schools were significantly more likely to be wasted (OR = 1.934, CI = 1.123 – 3.330, p = 0.017). Younger children (<13years) were at a significantly lower risk of stunting at urban (OR = 0.300, CI = 0.174 – 0.520, p = <0.001) and at rural (OR = 0.534, CI = 0.322 – 0.886, p = < 0.015) and also at a lower risk of underweight at urban (OR = 0.287, CI = 0.166 – 0.495, p = 0.001) and at rural (OR = 0.450, CI = 0.279 – 0.725, p = 0.001) compared with older children. Total mean achievement scores for respondents from urban schools was significantly higher (t = -3.387, p = 0.001) compared with those from rural schools. Among rural respondents, anaemia was significantly associated with
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stunting (OR = 1.665, CI =1.153 – 2.404, p = 0.007). It was also significantly associated with less likelihood of high performance at the bivariate level (p = 0.040) and marginally significant (OR = 0.642, CI = 0.412 – 1.000, p = 0.050) at the multivariate level.
Conclusion: There was a high level of malnutrition among the school children especially rural school children. Nutritional status was not significantly associated with academic performance in this study. Further studies are needed to examine the effects of other important non-nutritional correlates of academic performance among school children.
