| dc.description.abstract | Abstract:-Obesity/overweight in
adolescents have declared as a risk for noncommunicable
diseases in late life. The level
of physical activity is considered a useful
determinant in assessing the risk of
overweight/obesity. Thus, this study aimed
to determine the association between
activity level and overweight/obesity
among adolescent girls. A descriptive crosssectional
study was conducted in three
selected girls’ schools in Piliyandala
Educational Zone. A total of 277 participants
between 10-19 years, who were willing to
maintain a 3-day activity diary were
selected by simple random sampling
technique. A pre-tested questionnaire was
used to obtain demographic data. Results
revealed that prevalence of overweight and
obesity were 15.2% and 13.7% respectively.
About 48.4% were normal weight and
22.7% were underweight. The participants
spent <2 hours (49.5%), 2-4 hours (35%),4-
6 hours (13%), >6 hours (2.5%) on mobile
phone, computer and TV per day while they
spent < 2 hours (16.3%), 2-4 hours (32.1%),
4-6 hours (24.2%), >6 hours (27.4%)on
education purposes (i.e. tuition /study at
home). Around 47.3% participants spent 6-
8h/day for sleep. The activity diary showed
that 26% of students performed <60 min of
exercises 1-3 days/week, while 74 % avoid
perform any. In conclusion, risk of
obesity/overweight was dominantly seen in
the adolescent girls in this study and it was
significantly associated with activity level
(p<0.05). Programmes on activity level
modification would be an effective strategy
in reducing the prevalence of
overweight/obesity in adolescent girls. | en_US |
