ABSTRACT
The present study was conducted to find out the magnitude of overweight, obesity and hypertension among rural adults of Jammu and whether there exists an association of overweight/obesity with age, sex, physical activity & hypertension. Adults > 30 years with sample size 2216 were studied. Prevalence of obesity was 2.21% with females 3.35%: males 1.02%. Prevalence of overweight was 9.70% with females 11.63%: males 7.68%. A strong association between obesity/overweight and gender was found (p value <.000004). An increase in prevalence of obese & Overweight persons with age upto 59yrs. & 49yrs. respectively in both the sexes, declining thereafter; but this association with age was not statistically significant.Prevalence of hypertension was13% ; females 14.71%: males 11.19% showing a strong association between gender and hypertension (p value <.02). An increase in prevalence of hypertension with age(from 30-39yrs. to >/=?60yrs) from 6.67% to 37.78% in females (p value <.0001) & 4.5% to 18.69% in males (p value <.00001), showing a strong association between hypertension and age in both the sexes. Proportion of obese & overweight persons was higher in sedentary workers when compared with that in moderate and heavy workers, results being statistically significant (p value <.01). An increasing proportion of hypertensives from 10.91% to 29.30% to 48.98% respectively among persons with “normal BMI” to “Overweight” to “Obese” was found showing highly significant association between BMI and Hypertension (p value <.000001).