A Study of Overweight and Obesity in Adults, in Rural Gurgaon, Haryana

Obesity is coming up as a common nutritional disorder in developing countries particularly those who are upgrading their GDP to a world level, like India. Thus study on obesity and overweight becomes mandatory.

To find out the prevalence of overweight and obesity in adults aged 18 years.

In present cross sectional study 1382 individuals aged 18 years and above were covered from 400 families. The population was screened randomly by convenience sampling around Rural Health Centre of Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, SGT University, Gurgaon during the field visits. All selected subjects as available during the visit, in the villages or their schools at the village were included. The Individuals were interviewed and examined personally using, previously piloted Pre-designed and Pre-tested Questionnaire.

Of the total 1382 individuals 244 (17.7%) were having BMI ≥ 25. Prevalence of obesity in females (21.9%) was found to be more than males (13.8%). Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity were directly proportional to increased age, highest being observed in 50–59 years of age (22.2%). Majority males (19.9%), were observed to be overweight in their productive life at 30 to 39 years. This may be due to income and availing junk food. Females, on the other hand were overweight in their fifties followed by menopausal period at 40–49 years (32.8%). This may be due to hormonal modification. Married (18.9%), Professional/Technical person (33.3%), Upper caste (23.1%), people belonging to high standard of living index (21.0%), person living in joint families (18.2%), and Alcoholics (18.6%) were observed to be over weight. These observations were based on BMI only.

The prevalence of Overweight and Obesity is increasing in adult population of rural area. Various socio-economic correlates are affecting the weight and Obesity in Rural population.