Obesity Among High School Students Kerala, India

Background Obesity is a complex condition with serious social and psychological dimensions, that affects virtually all age and socioeconomic groups and threatens to overwhelm both developed and developing countries. This problem is increasing in adolescents and various factors contribute to it. As there is paucity of data regarding this problem in Kerala, India, the present study was undertaken to find the magnitude and to explore the factors associated with it. Method A cross sectional study was conducted among 8, 9 and 10 standard students of high schools of Thiruvananthapuram City Corporation,Kerala,India. The sample size estimated using formula is 859 and it was doubled to overcome the design effect so the sample size of this study was 1718 and the technique adopted is Multistage and stratified random sampling. Ethical clearance was obtained and permission from respective authorities of schools was also taken. Data was collected using pre designed and pretested semi structured questionnaire which is self administered. Body mass index was calculated based on physical measurements such as height and weight using standard methods. Results The prevalence of overweight and obesity is found to be 18.3%. The prevalence of overweight alone is 12% and obesity is 6.3%. Binary logistic regression analysis revealed that family h/o overweight/obesity, maternal occupation of business/services, watching TV/computer use more than 16 hrs/week, fast food consumption, not involved in sports and inadequate aerobic exercise are significantly associated with overweight/obesity. Conclusion There is increased prevalence of overweight/obesity among adolescents and many factors associated with it are modifiable