OBESITY AND ASSOCIATED RISK FACTORS AMONG HIGH SCHOOL CHILDREN OF PRIVATE AND MUNICIPAL SCHOOL IN METROPOLITAN CITY.

Abstract

Background: Obesity in children and adolescents is gradually becoming a major public health problem in many developing countries including India, Worldwide obesity has nearly tripled over 340 million children and adolescents aged 5-19 are overweight or obese, the increase is more in children than adult. The magnitude of overweight ranges from 9% to 27.5% and obesity ranges from 1% to 12.9% among Indian children, more in urban than rural area. The current study was carried out to find out the prevalence of obesity and associated risk factors among school children in selected municipal and private school. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in selected municipal and private co-educational schools in Mumbai, Maharashtra, 200 students of 9th standard were selected by Simple Random Sampling technique. Predesigned and pretested questionnaire was used to elicit the associated factors includes family and individual characteristics of study population. Medical examination was conducted on every Student, it included recording of height, weight, and clinical examination. Height was recorded with the help of stadiometer and weight was recorded using electronic weighing machine with an accuracy of 0.1 kg. BMI in respect of all the students was computed and compared with the standard BMI- for-age chart of WHO. Overweight considered with BMI is between 23.0- 24.9 kg/m2, and Obesity: >25 kg/m2 Result: The overall prevalence of overweight and obesity was found 8% and 14.5% respectively in high school children, only 37% children were in normal weight. Based on BMI status overweight and obesity were observed 11% and 23% in private school, 5% and 6% in municipal school respectively. There were significant association of overweight/obesity with parental qualification; individual risk factors like type of diet, use of junk/fast food, eating habits like eat while watching TV/ mobile, less physical exercise etc. observed among school children. Conclusions: Children of high school belonging to middle socioeconomic group with less outdoor activities and consuming junk foods were more predisposed to overweight and obesity in urban area. To prevent childhood obesity there is a need to educate to all stakeholders, inculcates healthy life styles among children and encouraging children for more physical activity and by incorporating Health and Nutrition education in school curriculum.