Overweight and obesity among female undergraduate students of Makerere University, Uganda: knowledge, prevalence and associated factors: a cross-sectional study.

Introduction: The burden of diseases related to overweight/obesity is rapidly increasing, especially in low-and-middle-income countries. University students, especially females, are at high risk of being overweight or obese, predisposing them to non-communicable diseases. This study primarily assessed knowledge and prevalence of overweight and obesity; and secondarily factors associated with Body Mass Index (BMI) categories among female undergraduate students of Makerere University Kampala. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 380 female undergraduate students, proportionately sampled from all academic units. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires followed by weight and height measurements to compute Body Mass Index. Knowledge was scored on (1) food characteristics, (2) predisposing practices and environments, and (3) consequences of overweight and obesity; and categorised to adequate (≥70%) and inadequate (<70%). Descriptive statistics and ordered logistic regression were used for analysis. Results: The response rate for the study was 93.3%. The prevalence of overweight was 24.7% (95% CI 20.5% to 29.4%) while that for obesity was 6.8% (95% CI 4.5% to 9.9%). About 74% (95% CI 69.5% to 78.5%) were knowledgeable about foods, 18.4% (95% CI 14.8% to 22.7%) were knowledgeable about practices and environments that promote obesity or overweight, and 19.7% (95% CI 16.0% to 24.1%) were knowledgeable about consequences of being overweight or obese. The factors associated with BMI categories were being married (adjusted OR (aOR)=1.94, 95% CI 1.05 to 3.57, p=0.034), having adequate knowledge of foods that promote obesity and overweight (aOR=0.58, 95% CI 0.36 to 0.93, p=0.023) and being in higher years of study compared with first years (third year aOR=2.82, 95% CI 1.46 to 5.47, p value=0.002; fourth year aOR=2.99, 95% CI 1.36 to 6.55, p value=0.006). Conclusions: The prevalence of overweight and obesity in female undergraduate students is high. This calls for designing strategies to control the problem especially targeting higher risk groups like the married and students in higher years of study. Additionally, the proportions of students knowledgeable about practices that promote obesity and overweight as well as its consequences are very low, suggesting a need for strengthening.