Abstract

The aim of the present study was to assess the prevalence of overweight and obesity among children in a Tertiary care centre. Methods: A hospital based study was conducted in the Department of Paediatrics, ISPAT General Hospital, Rourkela, Odisha from April 2019 to October 2020. The study population was children in the age group of 5 to 18years attending Paediatric OPD, ISPAT General Hospital, Rourkela, Odisha. 388 children were included in the study. Results: Out of 388 children in the study population, out of 198 males majority of them are under the category of 10-15 years (49%), 52 (24.7%) were in the category 15-18 years, followed by 49 (24.7%) under the category 5-10 years. Out of 190 females majority of children (48.9%) were under age group10 to 15 years followed by (28.9%) under the age group 15 to 18 years and (22.1%) under the age group 5 to 10yrs respectively, which was statistically not significant. Out of all children in the study overweight & obesity were more commonly observed in higher age groups (>10 yrs.) which was statistically significant. It was observed that overweight and obesity were more prevalent in females as compared to males which was statistically significant. Conclusion: The prevalence of overweight and obesity was more among adolescent children and girls in our study which shows comparable trends with other parts of the country and worldwide. Lack of physical activity, sedentary lifestyle, using motor vehicle as the mode of transport to school, lack of parental awareness regarding importance of physical activity, non encouragement of children by their parents to actively participate in physical activity and Poor parental perception regarding their children weight status were significantly observed in those group of children who were overweight and obese.

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