An epidemiological study of overweight and obesity among women in an Urban area of North India

• Main Authors: Sangeeta Girdhar (Author), Sarit Sharma (Author), Anurag Chaudhary (Author), Priya Bansal (Author), Mahesh Satija (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications, 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 0970-0218; 1998-3581; 10.4103/0970-0218.173492
• Keywords: Obesity; overweight; BMI; marital status; hypertension; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270
• Source: Indian Journal of Community Medicine, Vol 41, Iss 2, Pp 154-157 (2016)

Background: Obesity is a complex, multi-factorial chronic disease. Overweight and obesity are the fifth leading risk for global deaths. Objectives: To find the prevalence and risk factors for obesity in women aged 20-60 years in Ludhiana city. Methods: The present study is a community based cross sectional study carried out in an urban area of Ludhiana among women aged 20-60 years. Among the study population of 324 women, a pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire was used to record the socio-demographic and anthropometric profile of women. Chi square test and logistic regression was used to find the association of obesity and hypertension with socio-demographic variables. Results: The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 12.7% and 29.6% respectively. Obesity was found to be more common among middle-aged Punjabi housewives belonging to upper socio-economic strata. There was strong association between overweight/obesity and hypertension.