Association of Number of Siblings, Birth Order and Parental Education with Nutritional Status among Meitei-Pangal Adolescents Residing in Urban and Rural Areas of Manipur, Northeast India

Introduction: Obesity in adolescents has become a growing global health concern affecting millions of adolescents in developed as well as developing countries. Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the prevalence of adolescent obesity and to determine the association of number of siblings, birth order and parental education with obesity among Meitei-Pangal rural and urban adolescents of Manipur. A total of 900 adolescents aged 13-18 years were randomly selected from urban and rural schools of Manipur. Structured interview schedule was used to collect data of the participants on birth order, number of siblings, parental education and anthropometric measurements. The data was statistically analyzed using SPSS version 24. Results: The mean age and BMI of the participants were 15.88±0.25 years and 20.00±0.12 kg/m2 in rural adolescents while 15.51±0.32 years and 20.95±0.14kg/m2 in urban adolescents. The results showed that no significant correlation between BMI and birth order of both rural adolescents (p- value=0.436) and urban adolescents (p-value=0.373). No significant correlation between BMI and number of siblings of rural adolescents (p-value =0.274) and urban adolescents (p-value=0.392) were also observed. No statistically significant association between the obesity of adolescents with parental education were also found. Conclusion: Adolescents’ BMI were driven by neither of their number of siblings nor birth order in both rural and urban adolescents. Key words: Birth order, siblings, parental education, obesity, adolescents