COMPARATIVE STUDY ON NUTRITIONAL STATUS BETWEEN BRITISH GURKHA TRAINEES AND COLLEGE STUDENTS BETWEEN THE AGE OF 17-21 YEARS IN DHARAN SUB METROPOLITAN CITY

Abstract

A community based cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in Dharan sub metropolitan city, Nepal to assess the nutritional status of British Gurkha trainees and college students with 110 participants each and aged between 17-21 years. Data was collected through self-administered questionnaire. Collected data was analyzed using SPSSv26 and Microsoft Excel. T-test, Chi-square test and Fisher’s exact test were used to test the association between the variables. Anthropometric measurements (height, weight, body mass index, waist-hip-ratio), body composition and dietary assessments (24-hour dietary recall, food frequency questionnaire) were used as indicators to determine and differentiate the nutritional status of participant groups. Results revealed a higher prevalence of underweight students (21.82%) compared to trainee participants (8.18%). No trainee participants were overweight or obese, while 14.55% students were overweight and 4.55% students were obese. College students had lower physical activity level and higher sedentary time than trainee participants (p-value <0.001). Factors like family income, eating outside the house, skipping meals, late night snacks, fat adequacy and consumption of legumes and pulses, fish, eggs, fruits, carbonated drinks and packaged food were associated with nutritional status among trainee participants (p-value <0.05). Similarly, factors like religion, family occupation, number of siblings, place to eat at home, skipping meals, late night snacks, body weight satisfaction, sedentary time, fat adequacy and consumption of packaged food and carbonated drinks were associated with nutritional status among college students (p-value <0.05). Strategic implementation of nutritional interventions at both individual and community levels can significantly improve the nutritional status of both the participant groups.