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Abstract

Background: Malnutrition, caused by an imbalance between energy intake and nutritional needs, is a global health issue affecting school-aged children, impacting growth, development, and health. Objective: To evaluate and compare nutritional health and junk food consumption pattern among students attending government and private schools. Material and Method: In this cross-sectional study, data was collected through combination of stratified sampling and simple random sampling from school-going children of both public and private schools in Malakand District. The 97 schools were divided into two strata, 62 Government and 35 private schools, with a sample of 5 Government and 3 private schools selected through simple random sampling based on these proportions. The boys and girls with age 5-10 years were included and those with chronic metabolic diseases were excluded. The sample size was calculated using the Rao-Soft calculator based on a previously reported study 64.7% junk food consumption rate over a week. A total of n=300 subjects were recruited, including n=190 boys and n=110 girls, with n=213 government school students and n=87 private school students. Data was collected through Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) and anthropometric tools. Descriptive statistics, the t-test and the Chi-square test was used with p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The mean age of public and private school children was (7.61±1.59 and 8.47±1.40) years respectively. The government school students mean weight (24.62 ± 6.19) was lower than the private school students (28.56 ± 6.73) kg. Public school children mean height (122.72 ± 13.07) was significant lower than the private (129.33 ± 11.57 cm). There was significant difference in mid upper arm circumference (p<0.05) and height for age (HFA) Z-score (p<0.05) but there was non-significant difference based on HFA Z-score category (p>0.05) stunted and normal students. There was no significant relationship of height for age (HFA) Z-score with different junk food consumption except salty snacks and fast food intake (p<0.05). In conclusion significant difference in nutritional health was found between private and government school students, but no difference in junk food consumption. No significant relationship was observed between height-for-age (HFA) Z-score and junk food consumption, except for salty snacks and fast food.