Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity Among School Children and Adolescents in Chennai.

ABSTRACT

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents in Chennai, India, using national and international age- and sex- specific body mass index (BMI) cut-off points. Methods: The Obesity Reduction and Awareness and Screening of Non communicable diseases through Group Education in Children and Adolescents (ORANGE) project is a cross-sectional study carried out on 18,955 children (age 6-11 years) and adolescents (age 12-17 years) across 51 schools (31 private and 20 government) of Chennai. Overweight and obesity was classified by the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF 2000) and Khadilkar’s criteria (2012), and Hypertension by the IDF criteria (in children ≥10 years and adolescents). Results: The prevalence of overweight/obesity was significantly higher in private compared to government schools both by the IOTF criteria [private schools 21.4%, government schools 3.6%, (OR 7.4, 95% CI6.3-8.6; P<0.001) and by Khadilkar criteria (private school 26.4%, government schools 4.6% OR 6.9, 95% CI6.2-7.8; P<0.001). Overweight/obesity was higher among girls (IOTF 18%, Khadilkar 21.3%) compared to boys (IOTF 16.2%, Khadilkar 20.7%) and higher among adolescents (IOTF 18.1%, Khadilkar 21.2%) compared to children (IOTF 15.5%, Khadilkar 20.7%). Prevalence of hypertension was 20.4% among obese/ overweight and 5.2% among non-obese (OR 4.7, 95%CI 4.2-5.3, P<0.001). Conclusion: The prevalence of overweight and obesity is high among private schools in Chennai, and hypertension is also common.