Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Nov;77(11):283-288.

High Prevalence of Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factors among Adolescents in Pohnpei, Micronesia

Delpihn Abraham  1   2   3   4   5 , Haley L Cash  1   2   3   4   5 , A Mark Durand  1   2   3   4   5 , Justin Denholm  1   2   3   4   5 , Ada Moadsiri  1   2   3   4   5 , Sameer Vali Gopalani  1   2   3   4   5 , Eliaser Johnson  1   2   3   4   5
Affiliations

High Prevalence of Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factors among Adolescents in Pohnpei, Micronesia

Delpihn Abraham et al. Hawaii J Med Public Health. 2018 Nov.

Abstract

Non-communicable disease (NCD) related behaviors among adolescents are on the rise globally and in the Pacific region. To better understand and elucidate the prevalence of NCD risk factors among adolescents in Pohnpei state, Federated States of Micronesia, a cross-sectional study was conducted among secondary school students. Of 2965 students enrolled in the 2015-2016 academic year, 2555 (86.2%) completed the survey, and 2386 (80.5%) were included in the final analysis. Of the survey respondents, 21.7% of students self-reported smoking tobacco in the past 30 days, 30.3% self-reported drinking alcohol in the past 30 days, 40.9% self-reported chewing betel nut in the past 30 days, and 21.2% self-reported chewing tobacco with or without betel nut in the last 30 days. Male students, older students, and public school students had higher prevalence of substance use. Additionally, about 17.3% of students were overweight and 10.1% were obese according to physical measures of height and weight. Female students and private school students had higher prevalence of overweight and obesity than male students, and prevalence of overweight was higher in older age groups. These findings indicate a cohort of adolescents at substantial risk for the development of NCDs and signal an urgent need for public health interventions to address NCD risk factors.

Keywords: Federated States of Micronesia; Secondary school survey; non-communicable disease; obesity; overweight; substance use.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

None of the authors identify a conflict of interest.

References

    1. World Health Organization, author. Noncommunicable diseases. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO; 2015. [August 2016]. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs355/en/
    1. Government of the Federated States of Micronesia, author. Geography, FSM. [August 2016]. http://www.fsmgov.org/info/geog.html.
    1. Office of Statistics, Budget and Economic Management, Overseas Development Assistance and Compact Management, author. National Population and Housing Census 2010 (National Report) Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia: Government of FSM; 2010. [August 2016]. http://www.sboc.fm/index.php.
    1. World Health Organization, author. Federated States of Micronesia (POHNPEI) NCD Risk Factors STEPS REPORT 2008. Suva, Fiji:
    1. IARC Working Group on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans, author. Betel-quid and areca-nut chewing and some areca-nut derived nitrosamines. IARC Monogr Eval Carcinog Risks Hum. 2004;85:1–334. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types