Burden of Overweight and Obesity Among Secondary and Senior Secondary Students of New Delhi Municipal Council Schools

Introduction: Obesity is an emerging global public health problem of concern. Importantly, 50 to 80 percent of obesechildren grow up to be obese adults, and all adult obesity issues are exacerbated if obesity begins in childhood. This studywas done to assess the prevalence of obesity among adolescents and the influence of the risk factors causing obesity.Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study of 244 students of grade 9th to 12th in schools under NDMC. WHO BMIgrowth charts were used to categorize the BMI. Statistical analysis was using licensed SPSS software version 21.0.Results: The mean BMI among the participants was found to be 19.8 kg/m2 (SD+3.89). Majority (153, 62.7%) had anormal BMI, 29(11.9%) were overweight and 7(2.9%) were obese. The prevalence of obesity/overweight among studyparticipants was lower in vegetarians. Students who skip their meals daily were at increased risk of being obese ascompared to those who skip rarely or never and the results were statistically significant (AOR 3.165 CI 1.173 – 8.544 p=0.023).The mean physical activity score of the overweight/obese was 2.21(SD±0.804) as compared to the mean score of2.27(SD±0.745) among the non-obese/overweight.Conclusion: The result of this study indicates that the overweight and obesity is highly prevalent among adolescents.There was an significant association between type of diet, skipping of meals, religion, mother’s education and overweight/obesity.