Publication:

Prevalence of overweight and obesity among rural adolescent school students in Kanchipuram district, Tamil Nadu

Background Obesity in children and adolescents acts as an independent risk factor in the occurrence of cardiovascular and other non-communicable diseases in their adulthood.

Methods A cross sectional school based study was done among 934 students aged 14-17 years studying Class 9 to Class 12 in selected four schools of Kanchipuram district in Tamil Nadu, India.

Results Mean BMI of the study population was 17.78 (SD-3.14). 39 (8.51%) were identified as overweight and 21 as obese (4.58%) among boys. Mean BMI among girls was 18.58 and 44 (9.24%) were identified as overweight and 20 (4.20%) as obese. Among the study population 83 (8.89%) were overweight, 41 (4.4%) were obese and overall the prevalence of overweight and obesity was found to be 13.28%.

Conclusions Obesity among adolescents is increasing and requires urgent attention. Standardized BMI charts for adolescents to be prepared as per Indian standards.