Document Type: Original Article

Authors
Sumit Chawla, Rakesh Thakur, Bharti, Kamaljit Singh, Romesh Jain, Herleen Pabla, Saket Kumar, Navya Sangwan
Associate Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government Medical College, Chhainsa, Faridabad, Haryana; Assistant Professor, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru Government Medical College and Hospital, Chamba; Associate Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Dr Yashwant Singh Parmar Government Medical College and Hospital, Nahan, Himachal Pradesh, Assistant Professor, Department of Transfusion Medicine, All India Institute Medical Sciences, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, MBBS Intern, Govt. Medical College, Chandigarh, Director General Ayurved Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Sidha Homeopathy Department Government of Haryana, MBBS Intern, National Institute of Medical Science, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

DOI: 10.37821/ruhsjhs.7.4.2022.478 [Downloaded: 0 times], [Page visited: 0 times]

Abstract
Introduction: Overweight, obesity, and associated health problems are on the rise in the developing and developed world. The spreading of the fast-food culture, sedentary lifestyle, and increase in body weight has led some to coin the emerging threat of “globesity” epidemic. Methodology: Multistage random sampling was used in this cross-sectional study. 1080 individuals of 15-64 years age group who were further subdivided into five subgroups (15-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, and 55-64 years) taking 90 individuals from each Anganwadi area were selected and interviewed. Appropriate statistical tests were used for analysis. Results: The overall prevalence of overweight (BMI = 25.00-29.99 kg/m ) was found to be 22.8% and it was higher among females (26.7%) as compared to males (18.9%). The prevalence of overweight was highest in 25- 34 years age group (27.8%) and lowest in 15-24 years age group (13.0%) among males whereas among females, it was highest in 45-54 years age group (38.0%) and lowest in 25-34 years age group (15.7%). Conclusion: This study confirmed the high burden of raised body mass index (BMI) in rural areas and reiterated the need to address these issues comprehensively as a part of noncommunicable disease (NCD) prevention and control strategy.

Keywords
BMI, Hypertension, Obesity, Rural.