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Objective:To study the relationship of ethnicity with overweight/obesity, variation in adiposity levels, regional distribution of fat and its impact on cardio-respiratory health among selected ethnic groups.Materials and methods:A cross-sectional study was carried out among 300 young adults of three ethnic groups from different geographical regions of India ranging in age from 20 to 30 years. Stature, weight, circumferences, body fat percentage, and skinfold thicknesses were measured. Obesity indices like body mass index (BMI), grand mean thickness (GMT), waist hip ratio (WHR), waist height ratio (WHtR), and conicity index (CI) were computed. Cardio-respiratory health indicators such as lung functions including forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1.0), forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory ratio (FER), peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR), breath holding time (BHT), and systolic and diastolic BP (blood pressure) were taken and associated with obesity indices.Results:General body fat deposition, assessed by BMI, GMT, and fat percentage, was found to be the highest among Delhi females and males. However, central adiposity as assessed from WHR, WHtR, and CI was found to be significantly higher among the Manipur subjects signifying a relatively more androidal pattern of fat deposition. Most of the inter-group differences for adiposity indices were significant; however, it was not so in the case of blood pressure among different ethnic groups. On the other hand, the respiratory efficiency varied significantly between different ethnic groups. Ethnicity, adiposity, and cardio-respiratory health were found to be interrelated.Conclusions:Subjects belonging to three ethnic groups showed marked differences in different body dimension, adiposity indices, and cardio-respiratory health. Central obesity has been found to be a better pointer for cardiovascular health risk. There were ethnic and gender differences with respect to adiposity measures and cardio-respiratory health indicators

The worldwide trend of growing elderly population is an outcome of declining fertility rate and increase in life expectancy. Demographic data on population ageing, growth rate, health and socio-economic aspects across gender, class and region has been discussed. The article has incorporated a special focus on policy measures in each of the above areas. It is advocated that all relevant stakeholders need to initiate a support framework that can enable the elderly to lead quality life with dignity. Within this overarching framework, the focus is specifically on the elderly who are marginalised and underprivileged in specific circumstances irrespective of their socio-economic background.

In the present study, the contribution of various biological and lifestyle factors toward progression to hypertension are examined among menopausal and postmenopausal women. A cross-sectional study among 245 women of 20 to 65 years was conducted. Besides blood pressure, fat percentage using bio-electric impedance analyzer and adiposity indices such as body mass index (BMI), waist-hip ratio (WHR), and waist-height ratio (WHtR) were taken. Mean, standard deviation, ANOVA, and multinomial logistic were used to analyze the data. Statistically significant differences (p< .001) for blood pressure among postmenopausal and premenopausal women were found. Among both premenopausal and postmenopausal women, the prehypertensive and hypertensive group showed significant differences with the normotensive women for body weight (p< .005), regional obesity, and general obesity. Low educational level, working status of women, socioeconomic status, nuclear family setup, postmenopausal status, and obesity were found to be the likely risk factors for prehypertension or hypertension among women.

As age advances, the elderly develop vulnerability to illness resulting in more health problems. Such issues are further influenced by several socio-economic factors like gender, education, geographical location, living arrangements etc. Health of the senior citizens is considered to be an important public health issue which requires serious attention. Main objective of this paper is to study the health profile of the senior citizens and related risk factors influencing their health. This study was conducted in different areas of Ahmedabad district in Gujarat with selected samples. Both elderly men and women were interviewed. Findings of the study have reflected the impacts of various socio-economic characteristics that affect the lifestyle and health of the elderly. The influence on the morbidity trend is found to be often diverse for gender, age groups and other socio-economic variables.