Health Status and Nutritional Awareness of College Students during COVID 19 Lockdown

Background: Good nutrition is crucial for good immune system. Precautionary measures such as self-quarantine and the temporary closure of teaching institutions to contain the spread of COVID-19 may affect normal life style pattern and nutrition practices.

Aim: The present study aim was to assess the BMI status and level of nutrition knowledge among nursing college students during covid19 lockdown

Methods: This cross sectional survey was carried out during covid19 lockdown period in Tamil Nadu among 247 nursing college students. Survey was conducted through online using valid structured questionnaire among willing participants who fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Section A included height, weight, BMI and socio-demographic variables .Section B elicited 45 Nutrition knowledge questions with 3 sub sections. Collected data were tabulated and analyzed statistically.

Results: The nutrition knowledge level results showed that majority of 54.8% had moderate knowledge, 35.7% had adequate knowledge and only 9.6% of students had inadequate knowledge. Body mass index (BMI) status revealed that 58.5% of the students were in obese II stage,36% were in obese I stage, 3.7% were overweight, 1.1% were normal and 0.7% were found to be under weight . No significant association was found between level of nutritional knowledge and body mass index at 5% level (p=0.079) High significant association was found between “programme (p = 0.000), year of study (p = 0.000) and the level of nutritional knowledge at 1% level. There was significant association between Age (p = 0.020) Family income (p = 0.021) and the level of nutritional knowledge at 5% level.

Conclusion: Students had moderate level of nutritional knowledge and majority of them were found to be Obese. No significant association and correlation was found between level of nutritional knowledge and body mass index. Transformation of nutritional knowledge into practice and creating awareness about impact of obesity, healthy life style and dietary habits would enhance their knowledge and create positive attitude towards health challenges.