Research Article

Prevalence of obesity among school children

aged 10 to 12 years in Sambalpur
Amit Kumar Mishra1, Himansu Prasad Acharya2, Rama Chandra Giri2
1

Department of Community Medicine, Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences, Ganapathichettikulam, Kalapet, Pondicherry, India.
2
Department of Community Medicine, V.S.S. Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Burla, Sambalpur, Odisha, India.
Correspondence to: Amit Kumar Mishra, E-mail: dramitvss@gmail.com
Received April 05, 2015. Accepted April 19, 2015

Abstract
Background: Overweight and obesity are due to more intake of calories than its utilization. This overweight and obesity
are the precursors of many fatal conditions. India is now in epidemiological polarization where at one hand we are facing
challenges to combat the under nutrition, on the other hand over nutrition starts showing its effects.
Objective: To assess the prevalence of overweight and obesity among school children aged 10 to 12 years in Sambalpur.
Materials and Methods: Data were collected by face-to-face interview by using a predesigned prestructured questionnaire. Anthropometric measurement such as height and weight were measured and body mass index (BMI) was
calculated.
Result: The prevalence of obesity was 11.53% in study population. It was higher among boys compared with girls and
higher among socioeconomical class II (73.33%). There were 7.70% person among study population with sedentary
lifestyle, and 34.60% study population did not have any knowledge about BMI and obesity.
Conclusion: The rapid urbanization and industrialization of underdeveloped areas changes the pattern of eating habits
and lifestyle. So steps should to be taken to fight against the risk factors causing this increased prevalence of overweight
and obesity. Health education to the new generation is one of the most important steps to reduce this morbidity.
KEY WORDS: Overweight, obesity, BMI, CHD and Type 2 Diabetes, medium of school, prevalence

Introduction
In India, the attraction of health workers was undernutrition, because the obesity in children and adolescents was
seldom noted. However,during the recent years, the rate of
obesity in children and adolescents is progressively being
noted with the altered lifestyle of families with enhanced
purchasing power, elevated hours of inactivity because
of television, video games, and computers, which have
Access this article online
Website: http://www.ijmsph.com
DOI: 10.5455/ijmsph.2015.05042015281

substituted outdoor games and other social activities.[1]

Obesity can be noted as the initial wave of a defined group
of noncommunicable diseases called new world syndrome,
generating a huge socioeconomic and public health burden
in low- and middle-income countries.[3] It is highly possible for
obesity to persevere when its beginning is in late childhood or
adolescence.[7]
This study was undertaken to assess the prevalence of
obesity and the effect of various risk factors on obesity among
first-year medical students of Government Medical College,
Bhavnagar.

Quick Response Code:

Material and Methods

Data were collected by face-to-face interview by using
a predesigned prestructured questionnaire. Anthropometric
measurement such as height and weight were measured

International Journal of Medical Science and Public Health Online 2015. 2015 Amit Kumar Mishra. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
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Mishra et al.: Prevalence of obesity among school children

using the standard procedures recommended by Jelliffe,[9] and

BMI was computed
BMI (kg/m2)

Health risk

18.523

Normal

<18.5

2327.5
>27.5

Malnutrition
Low risk of CHD and Type 2 diabetes

High risk of CHD and Type 2 diabetes

Result
The prevalence of obesity was 11.53% in the study population and was higher among boys (7.69%) compared with girls
(3.84%) [Figure 1].
There were 7.70% person among the study population
with sedentary lifestyle; so, they are prone to become obese in
future [Figure 4].
About 34.60% study population did not have any knowledge about BMI and obesity; so, there should be awareness
program conducted in early age so that they can acquire
enough knowledge and can prevent obesity development
[Figure 5].

Discusssion
Deshpande et al.[11] reported the prevalenceof obesity to
be 29% among medical undergraduate students of Ujjain,
which is more than double to this study, and higher among
boys (46.7%) compared with girls(43.6%). Thakkar et al.[10]
reported that, according to Revised Indian Guidelines, the
prevalenceof obesity was 23% among college girls in Agra
District of Uttar Pradesh, which is also double to this study.
Kotian et al.[12] reported the prevalence of obesity to be 4.8%
and slightly higher among boys (5.2%) compared withgirls
(4.3%). Aggarwal et al.[13] reported the prevalence of obesity
in their study group to be 3.4%, with no significant difference
between boys and girls.
Kotian et al.[12] revealed that the risk of obesity was two
times higher among the adolescents of high socioeconomic
class. Goyal et al. reported the prevalence of obesity to be
higher in high socioeconomic status group when compared
with middle socioeconomic status group. The prevalence of
obesity in low socioeconomic status group was the lowest
when compared with the other groups.[14] So, most of study
revealed that obesity is more common in high socioeconomic
class because of their food habits such as frequent fast food
and outside food and because of their lifestyle of them such
as watching television, playing computer game, and so on.
Deshpande et al.[11] reported that 95.7% of study population revealed physical inactivity. Mehan et al.[15] reported that
45% of study population showed physical inactivity.
Deshpande et al.[11] reported that 94.2% of the study population to be frequent fast food eaters.Mehan et al.[15] reported
that 42% of the study population showed frequent consumption of outside food.

Deshpande et al.[11] reported family history of hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, and obesity was present among
22.83% of the study population.
There were 7.70% person among study population with
sedentary lifestyle; so, they are prone to become obese in
future. Mehan et al.[15] reported that 41% of the study population showed sedentary activities such as watching television
and playing computer games. Bharati et al.[6] reported that
11.9% of the study population practiced sedentary lifestyle.
College-going period is highly important in determining
adult behavior. Timely identification and correction of food
habits, along with motivation for regular physical activity, are
recommended to prevent obesity.

Conclusion
The prevalence of obesity was higher among boys compared with girls and higher among socioeconomical class II.
Positive family history and consumption of junkfood are
important risk factors for the development of obesity in the
study population in this study.

Recommendations
It is estimated that obesity alone contributes to 2.6 million
deaths worldwide every year and there are more than
300 million obese people worldwide. Overweight is a continuous threat for future obesity in children, by itself a risk
factor for different diseases. Hence a right decision at right time
for early intervention can reduce the fatal morbidities due to
overweight and obesity. Few recommendations are

More emphasis on primordial and primary level of
prevention

Educating students to increase their physical activities
by playing in game periods, avoiding automobiles for
transport to school, and involvement in school recreation
activities
Inter personal communication at least to obese students to
modify high risk behavior

Changing the eating pattern from low nutritive, high
energy dense food to high nutritive low energy dense food

Well-designed, well-implemented school programs can
effectively promote physical activity and healthy eating
behavior among children
At least one anthropometric examination per year should
be carried out and recorded in their health diary

Restriction of vendors/shops selling fast food/packed
snacks around the school campus

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How to cite this article: Mishra AK, Acharya HP, Giri RC.
Prevalence of obesity among school children aged 10 to 12 years
in Sambalpur. Int J Med Sci Public Health 2015;4: 1366-1368
Source of Support: Nil, Conflict of Interest: None declared.