Prevalence of obesity and central obesity in middle aged population of Ahmedabad

Objectives: To find out the prevalence of obesity using Body Mass Index (BMI) and prevalence of central obesity using Waist Circumference (WC) and to find out association between obesity, central obesity and socio-economic status (SES). Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted with 552 males and females aged 20-50 years was selected from community of Ahmedabad. People with kyphosis, scoliosis and subjects on anti-hyperlipidemic drugs or related anti-obesity drugs were excluded. Height, weight measurement and waist circumference of every subject was done and socio economic status was taken by using Kuppuswamy’s socio-economic scale. Results: Prevalence of obesity was found to be 15%. Forty seven percent had normal waist circumference, 32 % were at mild risk and 21 % were at moderate risk of cardiovascular disease according to the WC. A positive correlation between BMI and SES was found using Spearman correlation r = 0.53 (p <0.0001). Moderate positive correlation between WC and SES, r = 0.42, p < 0.0001 was seen. Using linear regression, association was found between BMI and SES components (education, income, occupation). The result showed statistically significant association between income, occupation with BMI in both males and females. Association of education with BMI was statistically significant in males but not in females. Conclusion: The prevalence of obesity was 15%, more in females than males. The study showed