Abstract

Childhood obesity is emerging as a major public health issue of the twenty- first century with an alarming rise in its prevalence in several developing countries. Obesity has reached epidemic levels in developed countries. It is emerging as a major health problem in developing countries such as India, particularly in urban settings. Most studies related with Obesity and its complications like Hypertension, Diabetes mellitus in early adulthood, but the data’s in rural children are less. Aim: To assess the prevalence of obesity among rural school children of 6-12 years of age and to determine factors associated with obesity Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 100 children aged 6-12 years using a semi structured questionnaire. Risk factors like socio-economic status, BMI were taken into account. Results: The mean age of the children was 9.03±1.8. The prevalence of Overweight, obesity and Underweight is 8%, 6% and 8% respectively and majority of the children, 78% were found to be normal. The proportion of obesity was more among males (4%) than females (2%), whereas the proportion of overweight was more in females 6% compared to males 2%. Conclusions: This study concluded that the overall prevalence of overweight was higher than obesity with 8% and 6% respectively. There was also an equal proportion of underweight.

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