Estimation of body mass index in students of a public sector medical college in Pakistan

ABSTRACT

To determine the BMI status of the students of Dow Medical College and to calculate frequency of different BMI categories. A cross-sectional questionnaire based study was carried out in Dow Medical College, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi. Body weight and height were measured and body mass index [BMI] values were calculated by dividing weight with [height]2. Overweight and obesity were defined using WHO international standard BMI cut-offs. The overall prevalence of underweight students was 29.9% out of which 9.6% fell under the category of severely underweight [BMI of < 16.5]. In overweight category there were 8%. The frequency of students falling in Obese Class I, II and III was 2.7%, 0.6% and 0.0% respectively. It was found that more female students compared to male students were underweight. In the overweight and obese categories there was a preponderance of male students. A positive correlation was found between perception of obesity amongst parents and overweight obese students. According to this study, underweight, especially in girls, should be considered a serious health problem among adolescent students which needs to be addressed. Obesity on the other hand does not seem to be a major issue amongst them