European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

STUDY OF PREVALENCE OF OBESITY, OVERWEIGHT & HYPERTENSION AMONG SCHOOL CHILDREN OF BHUBANESWAR, ODISHA & ITS RELATION TO SOCIOECONOMIC CONDITIONS, TELEVISION VIEWING, FAMILY TYPE & PREDOMINANT DIET TYPE

Swarup Kumar Bisoi*, Jasashree Choudhury and Mamata Devi Mohanty

ABSTRACT

Objective: To study the prevalence of obesity, overweight & hypertension among school going adolescent children & its relation to socioeconomic conditions, television viewing & eating pattern in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Materials and Methods: A school based cross sectional study was carried out to determine frequency, disrtribution of overweight, obesity & hypertension among urban school going adolescents (12 to 19 years) of both sexes & its relation to socioeconomic conditions, duration of television viewing & eating habits in Bhubaneswar city of Odisha. Results: Overall prevalence of obesity was 1.7% & that of overweight & obesity combined was found to be 7% with no statistically significant difference between male and female students. The prevalence of undernutrition was 21.26%. The prevalence of obesity among males & females was 2.0% & 1.4% respectively & that of undernutrition was 29.0% & 12.6% respectively. The study shows that the prevalence of hypertension to be 7.2%. Conclusion: Obesity is more prevalent in children of higher socioeconomic status than those in the lower ones, but undernutrition is still the major problem among school children. There is association between hypertension and BMI, similar to that observed in other established studies. Higher social class, watching TV for more than 4 hours a day are associated with increased prevalence of overweight/obesity whereas family type, dietary habits are not significantly associated.

Keywords: Adolescent obesity, overweight, hypertension, socioeconomic conditions, television viewing, eating pattern.