Abstract

In this era, overweight and obesity in children is now one of the most seriously rising public health challenges among many countries including India. Also, overweight and obese children are more likely to develop non-communicable diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular diseases at younger age. The main purpose of this study is to estimate the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children. Material and Methods: It was a cross sectional study conducted among 2486 children (1352 girls, 1134 boys) belonging to age group 5 to 14 years in Sambalpur municipality area of Western Odisha. This study was approved by Institutional Ethical Committee. Children with abnormal growth pattern and those who are below 5 years and above 14 years were excluded from the study. Study subjects were categorised as normal weight, overweight and obese as per International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) guidelines and compared with socio economic status. Anthropometric data were analysed using SPSS, BMI calculator. Results : Prevalence of overweight and obesity among children was 15.84%, 6.01% in boys and 18.65%, 7.32% in girls respectively. Again, female children from upper socio-economic society were at greater risk of being overweight and obese than their male counterpart showing significant disparity in growth parameters. Conclusion : Obesity epidemic in children is one of the serious public health concerns. Although overweight and obesity are of multifactorial origin, results of this study provide an early insight to parents, caregivers and society as a whole for early prevention and control of this problem as prevention is better than cure.

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