A case control study on factors contributing to obesity/overweight among school children at selected schools, Kumbakonam, Thanjavur District

A Case Control study on factors contributing to obesity / overweight among school children at selected schools, Kumbakonam. OBJECTIVES : 1. To determine the selected factors contributing to obesity among obese school children. 2. To find out the association between the selected factors contributing to obesity among cases and control groups. 3. To find out the association between the selected factors contributing obesity and demographic variables among cases and controls. HYPOTHESIS H1: There is a significant association between the selected factors contributing to obesity among school children in cases and controls. H2: There is a significant association between the selected factors contributing to obesity and their demographic variables among school children in cases and controls. The present study was aimed at determining the factors contributing to obesity among obese and non obese school children aged between 10-14 years.. The conceptual frame work was developed based upon three main issues, school age, background data of obese and normal school children. The conceptual frame work of the present study was based on web causation theory. The data collection tool was validated by a pediatrician and four nursing experts. Reliability was established by test–retest method (r= 0.84).Pilot study was done at Sri Madha Matriculation Higher secondary school.The main study was conducted in selected 2 schools in kumbakonam namely St.Antony's Matriculation Hr.Sec.School and Sri Kumaraguruparar Matriculation Hr.Sec.School. The data collected were edited, tabulated, analyzed and interpreted by SPSS version .16. The findings revealed that The overall level of factors contributing to obesity among school children revealed that majority 30(60%) children had moderate level of contribution, 17(34%) children had high level of contribution and only 3(6%) children had low level of contribution to obesity in the cases group. It was inferred that majority 47(94%) of school children in cases and 3(6%) in the control group had high risk of contributing to obesity and there was significant association with the cases group at the level of p<0.001 and about 245 times the factors contribute to obesity (OR = 245.4). The risk for developing obesity in cases is 15.6 times that of the controls. In the demographic variable educational status of father had shown statistically significant association with level of factors contributing to obesity among school children at p