IJCM_113A: Prevalence and contributing factors of obesity among school going adolescents living in Guwahati city

Abstract

Background: Obesity has become a global epidemic. The prevalence of obesity is increasing in developing countries like India in recent years. Objectives: 1) To estimate the prevalence of obesity among school going adolescents living in Guwahati city. 2) To determine various socio- demographic factors affecting obesity among school going adolescents living in Guwahati city. Methodology: Taking the prevalence of obesity from one previous study as 5%, absolute error as 2%, the sample size was calculated to be 475, rounded off to 480. A list of all government and private schools present in Guwahati city were collected from Inspector of Schools, Kamrup (M) district. By simple random sampling, a total of 4 schools (two governments and two privates) were selected. From each chosen school, 120 children from 5th-10th standard were selected and included in the study. Since the number of classes is 6 from 5th-10th standard, 20 children were selected from each class randomly to get the desired sample size of 480. Students were interviewed and examined by pre-designed semi-structured schedule. Results: The prevalence of obesity was found to be 3.75%. Obesity was significantly higher among those who were non-vegetarian; those who indulged in unhealthy eating habits, were physically inactive and watched television for a longer duration. Conclusion: Prevalence of obesity was more among students having modifiable risk factors. So, timely interventions should be taken to improve awareness about healthy lifestyle behavior to prevent obesity and its complications among adolescents.