Prevalence and determinants of overweight/obesity among affluent school children

Abstract

Background & Aim: Childhood obesity has a strong association with several non-communicable diseases. The longer the duration of obesity, higher is the risk. Hence, the present study was undertaken to study the prevalence and determinants of overweight/obesity among school children. Methods: The present cross-sectional study was carried out among school children studying in first to tenth standards during the school year 2011-12. From eleven private schools in the city, three schools were selected by simple random sampling. From each school 644, 551 and 495 students were selected by stratified random sampling. Pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire was used for collection of data. Height and weight was measured and BMI was calculated. Overweight and obesity was assessed by BMI for age and sex [WHO criteria]. Results: Prevalence of overweight & obesity was 14.97% and 7.10% respectively. The significant determinants of the overweight/ obesity were employed mothers, mixed diet, daily caloric intake > RDA, sleep at night< 8hour/day, television/video/computer time ≥2 hour/day and physical activity < 1hour/day. Conclusion: Most of the determinants of obesity were related to lifestyle of the children. Hence, there is a need to educate the community about healthier eating habits, an active life style and protective role of breast feeding in preventing obesity for the health of future generation.

A cross sectional study on the prevalence of overweight and obesity in affluent school children of central Kerala

“…our study, there was slight preponderance of males in prevalence of overweight/obesity showing no significant difference of gender in development of obesity. Similar results were found in study by Bodhare et al, Bharati et al, Kulkarni et al, Eshwar et al, Mahato et al and Poonam et al1,23,32,[35][36][37] …”

Relationship between body mass index and blood pressure: A study among school going children

“…High blood pressure (BP) and obesity among adolescents, in conjunction with many of their health consequences such as dyslipidaemia, abnormal plasma glucose and metabolic disorders, have dramatically increased over the past two decades worldwide due to the rapid socioeconomic, nutritional and epidemiological transitions [4] . Blood pressure studies in children provide crucial epidemiological information helpful in the modification of risk factors for coronary heart diseases and other non-communicable diseases later in life [5][6][7][8][9][10] . Present study was aimed to study relationship between body mass index and blood pressure among school going children.…”