Relevant factors of eating outofhome and its association with overweight and obesity among middle school students in Wuhan City / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To investigate the prevalence and relevant factors of eating out-of-home among middle school students in Wuhan, and to analyze its association with overweight/obesity, so as to provide scientific basis for the prevention of overweight/obesity among middle school students.@*Methods@#From March to April 2023, 1 654 middle school students in Wuhan were selected by convenient sampling method for a questionnaire survey. The multivariate Logistic regression model was used to analyze the relevant factors of eating out-of-home and to explore its relationship with overweight/obesity among middle school students.@*Results@#On weekdays, 57.19% of the middle school students ate out-of-home at least once a week. On weekends, 81.38% of the participants ate out-of-home at least once a week. The multivariate analysis showed non -resident students were more likely to eat out-of-home on weekdays (OR=4.32, 95%CI =2.10-8.90, P <0.05). Middle school students whose fathers with educational backgrounds of high school, technical secondary school or college above, and families with per capita monthly income levels of 2 000-5 000 and >5 000 yuan, and average monthly food expenses of 500-<1 000 and 1 000-<1 500 yuan were more likely to eat out-of-home on weekends ( OR= 2.12 , 2.77; 2.58, 3.32; 1.70, 1.98, P <0.05). Middle school students with qualified nutrition and health knowledge scores were more likely to eat out-of-home on weekends than those with excellent nutrition and health knowledge scores ( OR=1.51, 95%CI = 1.12 -2.06, P <0.05). Students who ate out-of-home once or twice per week on weekends had 1.50 times higher risk of overweight/obesity than those who ate out-of-home none per week on weekends (adjusted OR =1.50, 95% CI =1.05-2.15, P <0.05).@*Conclusion@#Eating out-of-home is common among middle school students in Wuhan. Middle school students should actively cultivate awareness of healthy eating, and decrease the frequency of eating out-of-home to reduce the incidence of overweight and obesity .