Overweight and Obesity among Children of Affluent Public School in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh

In developing countries such as India, especially in urban population and affluent children, obesity is emerging as a major health problem. The magnitude of overweight ranges from 9% to 27.5% and obesity ranges from 1% to 12.9% among Indian children. To know the prevalence of overweight & obesity in affluent school children aged between 11–16 years and to analyze the association between overweight/obesity with physical activity. A cross sectional study was carried out in 2 affluent schools of Allahabad city –Maharshi Patanjali Vidya Mandir and Tagore Public School. A total of 1146, school children studying between 6^th and 11^th standard aged between 11 to 16 years were studied and data regarding time spent on television viewing, sleeping, playing computer/video games, indoor games, outdoor games and physical exercises was recorded in a pre designed and pre tested questionnaire. Out of 1146 school children 223 (19.5%) and 119 (10.4%) were overweight and obese respectively. The overall prevalence of overweight and obesity in affluent school children of 11–16 years was estimated to be 29.9%. Proportion of overweight and obesity was more in boys (20.7% and 12.2%) than girls (17.8% and 8.0%).

Prevalence of overweight/obesity was found significantly higher among children who watched television >20hrs/week (p<0.0001), playing computer/video games>10hrs/week (p=0.005) On the other hand regular participation in outdoor games>30 min/day (p=0.001) and physical exercises >30min/day(p=0.01) significantly lowers the prevalence of overweight/obesity. Spending long hours on television viewing and playing computer/video games was found to be positively associated with overweight/obesity whereas participation in physical exercises and outdoor games was negatively associated with overweight/obesity.