A community based study on prevalence of obesity among urban population of Shivamogga, Karnataka, India

Abstract

Background: Obesity is a most prevalent malnutrition all over the world. It is estimated by the WHO that globally, over 1 billion (16%) adults are overweight and 300 million of these (5%) are obese. The highest rise in the number of obese is noted in the countries with fast growing economies especially of South East Asia. In India the prevalence of obesity is 12.6% in women and 9.3% in men. In other words, more than a 100 million individuals are obese in India. Objectives: To assess the prevalence of obesity in urban population of Shivamogga.Methods:A cross sectional study was conducted in Urban Shivamogga Study was conducted during February 1st to July 30th 2016 for 6 months. Data was collected from house hold members aged 15-64 years. The calculated sample size was 2000. Subjects were interviewed using a prestructured and pretested questionnaire adopted from WHO STEPS I and II, approaches for non-communicable diseases risk factors surveillance, after modifying to suit the local requirements (questions about Obesity and overweight were considered for study).Results: The prevalence of high BMI among study subjects was nearly fifty percent (45.6%). The prevalence of obesity in the study subjects was 31.6%, the prevalence was more in females (34.9%) compared to males (28.4%). The prevalence of central/ abdominal type of obesity was 41.2%.Conclusions:This community based study demonstrated high prevalence of obesity and overweight among the productive population of urban Shivamogga.