A study to assess prevalence of obesity among medical students of G.R. medical college, Gwalior, M. P., India

Authors

  • Ranjana Tiwari Department of Community Medicine/PSM, G.R. Medical College, Gwalior, M.P.
  • Vikas Jain Department of Physiology, G.R. Medical College, Gwalior, M.P.
  • Ajit Singh Rajput Department of Physiology, G.R. Medical College, Gwalior, M.P.
  • A. K. Bhagwat Department of Community Medicine/PSM, G.R. Medical College, Gwalior, M.P.
  • Manish Goyal Department of Physiology, G.R. Medical College, Gwalior, M.P.
  • Sakshi Tiwari M.B.B.S. Student, GMC, Bhopal, M.P.

Keywords:

Medical students, Obesity, Overweight, Physical activity

Abstract

Background: Obesity is emerging as a serious problem throughout the world, not only among adults but also children, teenagers and young adults. Medical education is stressful throughout the whole course of training. Overweight and obesity is one of the preventable cause of morbidity and mortality. The social implications of obesity are a major problem that is often neglected. Objectives of current study were to assess the prevalence of overweight and obesity in medical students and to assess the factors influencing the development of overweight and obesity.

Methods:The present study was a cross sectional study of IInd semester medical students in which, a total of 131 students were included. The study involved administration of a pretested questionnaire to the students and their anthropometric measurements.

Results:In a batch of 150 students 131 participated in the study in which 90 (68.70%) were males and 41 (31.30%) were females. The prevalence of overweight was 13 (9.93%) and the prevalence of obesity was 2 (1.53%).  

Conclusion:The study showed a high prevalence of overweight and obesity among the medical students. At the time of anthropometric measurements awareness was created for their weight and for the promotion of physical activity among medical students.

 

References

WHO. WHO fact sheet on overweight and obesity, 2014. Available at: http://www.WHO.int/mediacentre/fact sheets/fs 416/en/. Accessed 5 May 2014.

WHO Western Pacific Region Publication. Health of Adolescents in Malaysia, 2014. Available at: http://www.wpro.who int/topics/adolescent_ health/Malaysia_fs pdf. Accessed 15 May 2014.

Park K. Obesity. In: Park K, eds. Park, Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine. 22nd ed. Jabalpur: Banarasidas Bhanit Publishers; 2013: 368.

WHO: World Health Organization. Obesity epidemic puts million at risk from related diseases, 2014. Available at: www.who.int/nutrition/topics/obesity/en.

James P, Leach R, Kalamara E, Shayeghi M. The worldwide obesity epidemic. Section 1: Obesity, the major health issue of the 21st century. Obes Res. 2001;9:S228-33.

Wilborn C, Beckham J, Campbell B, Harvey T, Galbreath M, La Bounty P, et al. Obesity: prevalence, theories, medical consequences, management and research directions. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2005;2:4-31.

Jequier E, Tappy L. Regulation of body weight in humans. Physiol Rev. 1999;79:451-80.

Chhatwal J, Verma M, Riar SK. Obesity among pre-adolescent and adolescents of a developing country (India). Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2004;13(3):231-5.

Kumar A, Ramesh S. Anthropometric studies in students of the Nepal medical college: elbow breadth. Kathmandu Univ Med J (KUMJ). 2005;3:345-8.

Ohe K, Hachiya Y, Takahashi Y, Oda S, Takahara K. The significance of obesity in UOEH medical students. Multiple regression analysis of the annual physical check-up data in 1991. J UOEH. 1992;14:279-88.

Bertsias G, Mammas I, Linardakis M, Kofatos A. Overweight and obesity in relation to cardiovascular disease risk factors among medical students in Crete, Greece. BMC Public Health. 2003;3:3.

Nerer WB, Thomas J, Semenya K, Thomas DJ, Gulum RF. Obesity and hypertension in a longitudinal study of black physicians: the Meharry cohort study. J Chronic Dis. 1986;39:105-13.

Abbate C, Giorquianni C, Munao F. Evaluation of obesity in health care workers. Med Lav. 2006;97:13-9.

Joint National Committee on Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of High Blood Pressure. The fifth report of J N C detection, evaluation and treatment of high blood pressure J N C V. Arch Int Med. 1993;153:154-82.

Gupta S, Ray TG, Saha I. Overweight, obesity and influence of stress on body weight among undergraduate medical students. Indian J Community Med. 2009;34:255-7.

Chhabra P, Garg VL, Aggarwal K, Kanan AT. Nutrition status and blood pressure of medical students in Delhi. Indian J Community Med. 2006;31:248-51.

Mohamad WB, Mokhtar N, Mafauzy M, Mustaffa B E, Musalmah M. Prevalence of overweight & obesity in North-Eastern peninsular Malaysia & their relationship with cardiovascular risk factors. Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health. 1996 June;27(2):339-42.

Gopal Krishanan S, Ganesh Kumar P, Prakash MVS, Christopher, Amolraj V. Prevalence of overweight/obesity, among the medical students, Malaysia. Med J Malaysia. 2012 Aug;67(4):442-4.

Boo NY, Chia GJQ, Wong LC, Chew RM, Chang W, Loo RCN. The prevalence of obesity among dental students in a Malaysian medical school. Singapore Med J. 2010 Feb;51(2):126-32.

Eckel RH, Grundy SM, Zummet PZ. The metabolic syndrome. Lancet. 2005;365:1415-28.

Nisar N, Qudri MH, Fatima K, Perveen S. Dietary habits and life style among the students of a private medical University Karachi. J Pak Med Assoc. 2008 Dec;58(12):687-90.

Downloads

Published

2017-01-26

How to Cite

Tiwari, R., Jain, V., Rajput, A. S., Bhagwat, A. K., Goyal, M., & Tiwari, S. (2017). A study to assess prevalence of obesity among medical students of G.R. medical college, Gwalior, M. P., India. International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences, 2(4), 1412–1416. Retrieved from https://www.msjonline.org/index.php/ijrms/article/view/2433

Issue

Section

Original Research Articles