Prevalence of obesity and overweight and their comparison by three growth standards among affluent school students aged 8-18 years in Rajkot

Abstract

Obesity and overweight emerged as an important public health problem in India. The present study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of obesity and overweight and compare it using three different standards among affluent school students aged 8-18 years from Rajkot, Gujarat. Anthropometric measurements of students of four schools from 3rd to 12th standards were taken. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was assessed using three standards - revised Indian Association of Pediatrics (IAP) 2015, WHO 2007, and International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) standards. A total of 1496 children including 79.1% boys and 20.9% girls participated in the study. The prevalence of obesity was reported 14% by IAP standards, 11.1% by WHO standards, and 5.1% by IOTF standards. Overweight children prevalence was reported more (19.1%) with IAP standards, followed by 15.8% with IOTF standards and 15.3% by WHO standards. High prevalence of obesity and overweight was reported with IAP 2015 standards and WHO 2007 standards.