Eating and lifestyle habits of urban and rural students attending secondary school in Sicily, South Italy

We investigated the relationship of personal eating, lifestyle habits, weight status and their place of living (i.e., urban vs. rural) of young Italian adolescents. A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 976 urban and 102 rural students (12 to 16 y old) attending 13 secondary schools in Sicily, Southern Italy. Validated instruments have been used to assess eating and lifestyle habits, and logistic regression and bivariate analyses were used for data analysis. Rural students consumed during breakfast significantly higher amount of cereals, fruit juice, fruits, and home-made cakes over packaged snacks and reported to prefer home-made cakes and fruit as snacks. Urban adolescents were found to be more than twice more likely to eat between meals (odds ratio [OR] 2.24, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.13-4.44) and out of home (OR 2.03, 95% CI: 1.36-3.02) as well as to spend time on TV/computer (OR 1.6, 95% CI: 1.15 -2.23) and less likely to practice physical activity (OR 0.66, 95% CI: 0.46-0.94) compared with rural. These results remarked the lower BMI values observed among rural compared with urban students. Our findings showed significant differences relating the eating and lifestyle habits to the place of residence.