Assistant Professor, PG Department of Zoology, DAV College, Sector 10, Chandigarh
Risks of coronary heart disease, ischemic stroke and type-2 diabetes mellitus increase steadily with increasing body mass index (BMI), a measure of weight relative to height.
A multistage random cluster sampling procedure was used to draw sample from this region. Randomly selected women aged >20 and <60 years were studied during sampling.
21.6% women were found to be malnourished in the total population. The degree of obesity had been observed as overweight 26% and Obese-I 11.7% and Obese-II were 66.7% Age remains the most significant risk factor for obesity among women. In overweight women, average waist circumference was 83.5 cms and average waist circumference of obese-I and obese-II were 88 cms and 108 cms. Central obesity was present in 44.3% women The prevalence of obesity was high in 40-59.9 age group females than 20-39.9 age group and >60 age group.
Both rapid urbanization and industrialization in developing countries together with the adoption of modern life styles thougy added to wealth but have brought new problems in the form of non-communicable diseases.
Obesity, urbanization, Body Mass Index
