Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity among School Going Adolescent in Patna

Abstract

Introduction: Now a day’s Obesity has become pandemic concern globally and the prevention of later stage
obesity will require elimination and management of childhood obesity. Childhood obesity and overweight
are linked with hypertension, dyslipidemia and decreased metabolism of glucose that ultimately affects our
quality of life and physical health and further can lead to increment in the risk of early disease and death.
Aims and Objectives: The current investigation was conducted to find out the prevalence of overweight and
obesity in school going adolescents.
Material and Method: The present study was a cross-sectional, school-based study conducted in four
urban schools of Patna from June, 2019 to, February 2020 with sample size of 660 adolescents (380
boys and 280 girls). The study design was approved by the institutional ethical committee. Three schools
accepted our proposal out of 5 schools selected through systematic random sampling. A predesigned and
pretested questionnaire was used to collect data on sociodemographic, dietary intake, physical activity and
anthropometric measurements.
Result and Discussions: The pervasiveness of overweight and obesity was found to be 18.18%(120) and
10.9% (72), respectively in our study. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 11.3% and 5.5%,
respectively among the males. Males are more affectionate to Non Vegan-compared to females where the
number of vegetarian supersedes the animal eater. Calories deficiency is 71.2% in the whole population on
the other hand overeating was seen more in male candidates than females. More than 20% of the population
was found to dine out once or more than once a week .Fast food intake found to be ingested in 44.6%
population once or twice a week on the other hand there is a huge population of 37.8 % who are consuming
3-5 times a week. Mehta et al. revealed the predominance of obesity and overweight as 5.3% and 15.2%,
respectively in his cross-sectional study which was directed in schools of Delhi. Sharma et al demonstrated
that 6.4% school children are obese in Delhi.
Conclusions: The current study suggests that juvenile overweight and obesity is a issue of serious concern
in urban community as well as all over. We can prevent this epidemic by doing lifestyle modifications and
spreading awareness among people. To achieve this appropriate health education training and awareness
program should be imparted to guardians, school authority and children.