A cross-sectional study of the prevalence of overweight and obesity amongst primary school children in Puducherry

Background: Globally, there is a steep escalation in the prevalence rates of overweight and obesity. Obesity during childhood is known to be related to diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease in adulthood

Objective: To assess prevalence of overweight and obesity in 6-12 year old children in Puducherry and thereby educate them with the importance of following a healthy lifestyle.

Method: The study included 720 6-12 year old children, from the urban and rural zones, including both government and private schools. The body mass index (BMI) of students was converted to z-scores using the method proposed by WHO. The distribution of students as per age, gender and BMI were calculated by applying the Chi-square test. Significance level was set at p<0.05.

Results: Overweight and obesity prevalence in study group was 13.9% and 7.3% respectively (p<0.001). A significant association of the age of students (p=2.49e-14) with their BMI status was noted. Among the government schools, 41 (11%) and 24 (7%) students were overweight and obese respectively. In private schools, 54 (15%) and 33 (9%) students were overweight and obese respectively. Children from urban schools did not have a significantly higher prevalence of overweight and obesity in comparison with those from rural schools (p=1.0).

Conclusions: The study has demonstrated a rise in the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children. A proportional rise in the prevalence of overweight and obesity was noted with age i.e., the odds of overweight/obese students was higher in children aged 10-12 years. There was no statistically significant difference between the prevalence of overweight and obesity in urban and rural school children from our study.

Sri Lanka Journal of Child Health, 2021; 50(2): 222-227