Article:

Overweight and obesity among the adolescent school students in Belgaum city

Abstract Introduction: The World Health Organization (WHO) defines obesity as a ‘global epidemic’. An overweight adolescent has a 70 % chance of becoming obese. Overweight and obese adolescents are at higher risk for developing long-term chronic diseases. So the present study objective is to estimate the prevalence of overweight and obesity among adolescent school students Methods: A sample size of 300 adolescent students was taken to do a cross-sectional study. Body weight and height were recorded and BMI was categorized based on age-and sex-specific cut-off values as per IOTF reference growth charts. Proportions of obese, overweight and underweight children were calculated and subjected to chi-square and logistic regression tests at the p < 0.05 significance level. Results: The overall prevalence of overweight and obesity in the present study were 12 % and 3.3% respectively. The highest prevalence was among those aged 15 years i.e. 36.7%. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was higher among the subject who did not practice physical activity and whose family income was more than 10,000 per month. Conclusions: Prevalence of overweight and obesity among adolescents student in Belgaum city was high which is statistically associated with less physically activity and monthly income of parent. Keywords: Body mass index; Life style; Overweight and obesity.