Assessment of Co-Morbidities and Self Esteem in Obese Population of Urban Slum of Mumbai

Abstract

Obesity is perhaps the most prevalent form of malnutrition. As a chronic disease, prevalent in both developed and developing countries , and affecting both children and adults replacing the more traditional public health concerns including under-nutrition. For industrialized countries, it has been suggested that such increase in body weight have been caused primarily by reduced levels of physical activity, rather than by changes in food intake or other factors. The present study was carried out to assess the various co-morbidities associated with obesity and to assess self-esteem score of obese patients in an urban slum of Mumbai. A descriptive epidemiological study was conducted at Cheetah Camp urban slum which is a field practice area of Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, TN Medical College, Mumbai, India. Obese and overweight patients above 40 years of age were included in this study. The information was gathered by personal interview using semi-structured questionnaires. Out of 350 subjects 163 (46.57%) were males. Mean Self-esteem score was 19.47 Patients having high body mass index had poor control over blood pressure and blood sugar. Thus society for elderly should be formed where various life style changes to prevent geriatric problems including obesity and associated co-morbidities like diabetes, hypertension, etc. should be encouraged.