1Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow
2Professor & Head, Department of Community medicine, Rama Medical College Hospital & Research Center, Kanpur
3Associate Professor, Department of Anesthesia, Rama Medical College Hospital & Research Center, Kanpur
*Corresponding Author: Dr Vibha Gangwar Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow (UP) Email: gangwar_vibha96@yahoo.co.in
Online published on 4 April, 2019.
Obesity negatively affects one's health or well-being. Due to rising prevalence of obesity and its adverse health effects it is being recognized as a serious public health concern. Medical students are very prone to obesity because of so much stress. Also junk food consumption is very common in medical student which is an important risk factor for obesity.
This study was undertaken to find out the prevalence of overweight and obesity its association with different risk factors in undergraduate medical students in a medical college of north India.
The cross-sectional study was conducted on 128 undergraduate medical students. A detailed history was taken. Anthropometric measurements including weight, height, body mass index, waist-hip ratio and waist-height ratio were taken according to WHO criteria.
The study showed high prevalence of overweight (30.2%) and obesity (3.9%). Obesity was significantly associated with non-vegetarian diet (p<0.01). Prevalence of overweight and obesity was highest in students with blood group B (12.4%) and least in blood group AB (0%). There was no significant association of obesity with junk food, family history and sleep duration (p >0.05). The importance of healthy eating habits and healthy life style needs to be emphasized. We created awareness for healthy living among medical students during the study.
Obesity, medical students, junk food
