Prevalence of overweight and obesity in union territory of Dadra Nagar and Haveli children and adolescents: Impact of diet, physical activity, and socioeconomic status

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study was to find out the prevalence of obesity and overweight in the children and adolescents and association of different factors such as dietary intake, physical activity, duration of sleep, and socioeconomic status with obesity. Methods: Study Design - It was a cross-sectional randomized epidemiological study among school children and adolescent in urban and rural areas of the Union Territory of Dadra Nagar and Haveli (U.T. of D.N.H), India in the year 2013–2014. Informed consent: The consent was taken from the Education Department of U.T. of D.N.H and the Head of the Institute before their inclusion in the study. Participants: Consenting male and female children and adolescents were included in the study. Questionnaire: Five-minute long interviews were conducted with each student involved in the study. A pilot questionnaire was developed and it was divided in demographic information, anthropometry information, physical activity, dietary intake, and socioeconomic status. Results: In this study, the prevalence of obesity and overweight was found to between 3.82% and 7.14%, respectively. The combined prevalence of overweight and obese children was slightly high in the age-group of adolescents (11.56%) as compared to children (10.66%). According to waist circumference (WC) analysis, 5.99% of male and 11.3% of female subjects are abdominally obese. Conclusion: The prevalence of childhood obesity in U.T. of D.N.H. is not very high as compared to other reports from different regions of the country, but the prevalence of underweight is high in U.T. of D.N.H. children and adolescents. The low degrees of physical activity and higher sedentary activity, consuming high-calorie food, less sleep duration, higher socioeconomic status are associated with a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity.