Prevalence of Nutritional Status and Its Associated Factors among Primary Education Students in Muang District, Chiang Rai Province
Sunattra Nunloi MSc*, Anursara Pongjanta MSc*, Saifon Kankhaw BSc*
Affiliation : * School of Health Science, Chiang Rai Rajabhat University, Chiang Rai, Thailand
Background : It is known that the obesity affects physical and mental health. It is also a high-risk factor that leads to other
diseases. Therefore, this survey aimed to find the evidences for supporting the more specific planning and monitoring in order
to reduce the problem in young children in the future.
Objective : The objectives of this research were to study the nutritional status and its associated factors among the students in
primary schools in Muang district, Chiang Rai Province, Thailand.
Material and Method: In this cross-sectional research, 210 male and 187 female in primary schools in Chiang Rai Province
voluntarily participated. The research data were obtained by physical examinations and using questionnaires. Frequency,
percentage, and Chi-square were applied in data analysis.
Results : 2.5% of underweight, 2.3% of stunting were revealed by using weight for age index (W/A) and height of age index
(H/A), respectively. In addition, in view of the weight for height index (W/H), the 14.9% of relatively obese and very obese
and 4.0% of wasting were illustrated. The factor that related to nutritional status is gender with statistically significant at the
0.05 level.
Conclusion : Numbers of obese and very obese students were shown, whereas gender was a factor that related to nutritional
status significantly. Therefore, the participation of all sectors of the community including local schools and families should
encourage their students to have proper food consumption behaviors, activities, and exercises. These students should receive
better care for normal nutritional status and good health for the effective growth in the future.
Keywords : Prevalence, Nutritional status, Primary education students
