Abstract

Purpose The prevalence of metabolic syndrome MetS among youth is on the increase worldwide The present study examined the association of MetS with school type in 11-to 18 year-old Nigerian adolescents Methods A total of 197 adolescents public school 91 private school 106 were evaluated for MetS fitness and fatness A clustered metabolic risk score MRS was calculated from the standardized residuals of waist circumference WC systolic blood pressure SBP high density lipoprotein cholesterol HDL plasma glucose GLU and triglycerides TG Regression models controlling for age and gender assessed the relationship of school type fitness and fatness with MRS Results Prevalence of MetS was 5 6 public 5 1 private 0 5 After controlling for all variables in the model school type R2 17 3 and fatness R2 2 7 were significantly associated with MRS respectively with the school type recording a stronger unique contribution 0 494 p 0 0005 than fatness 0 149 p 0 023 The likelihood of an adolescent in public school developing MetS risk is 3 0 95 CI 1 21-7 62 p 0 018 times that of his her peer in private school The odd of an adolescent developing MetS risk is 1 4 95 CI 1 20-1 72 p 0 0005 times with a unit increase in age Conclusion School type was a strong predictor of MetS risk Adolescents in public school were at higher risk of metabolic syndrome compared to their peers in private school These results suggest that stakeholders in education and health promotion should pay particular attention to school type when planning preventive strategies for reducing cardiometabolic disease risk in adolescents