Impact of Socioeconomic Status and Nutritional Health on Academic Achievement among Primary School Students in Aden, Yemen: A Descriptive Analysis

Background: Nutrition is important in the physical development, cognitive and academic achievement of children especially in underprivileged areas where low resources are likely to be coupled with low nutritional and socioeconomic status.


Objective: This aim of this study was to determine how nutritional behaviors, health levels, socioeconomic status, and academic achievement are related in primary school children in Aden, Yemen.


Methods: A cross-sectional study was done on 202 children in four schools in Aden, primary school learners aged 8-12 years. Structured questionnaires, anthropometric measurements, and biochemical assessments were used to collect the data. Variables comprised the frequency of meals, breakfast, dietary habits, morbidity, family size, a range of macronutrients and micronutrients supports memory, attention, classroom participation, and school readiness, and school performance. The laboratory tests were CBC, serum glucose, total protein, and triglycerides. SPSS version was used for data analysis, and employing descriptive statistics.


Results: Overall, 60.4% of students demonstrated high academic performance. The majority of the participants had healthy diets (75.7%), breakfast every day (89.1%), and consumed 4-5 meals per day (80.7%). The consumption "was predominantly carbohydrate-based"(79.2%) with relatively low protein consumption (18.3%). Most of them did not have any recent infections (80.2%) and had an excellent health status (64.4%). The biochemical results were 80% normal such as glucose (92.0%) and triglycerides (88.0%). Frequent breakfast and meals were positively associated linked to improved academic achievement.


Conclusion: Decreasing academic performance by food habits, especially by eating breakfast seems to be more effective than socioeconomic status.