Comparison of Nutritional Status: Body Mass Index (BMI) and Obesity amongst Perimenopausal and Postmenopausal Working and Non-working Women

Introduction : Present study sought to assess nutritional status: BMI and obesity amongst perimenopausal and postmenopausal working and non-working women. The purposive random sampling was used for the collection of data. A sample of 120 subjects was selected from the district Jodhpur at different work places for women, such as schools (govt. and private), university, hospitals (govt. and private) and door to door household too. The sample consist of 60 working (30 perimenopausal and 30 postmenopausal) and 60 non-working (30 perimenopausal and 30 postmenopausal) menopausal women, between 45 years to 55 years.

Objective : The main objectives of this study was to assess nutritional status: BMI and obesity in perimenopausal and postmenopausal working and non-working women.

Method : Anthropometric measurement - Height and weight of all the subjects of the study were noted and Body mass index (BMI) was calculated using the formula = Weight (kg) / Height2 (m). Assessment of obesity in menopausal women through BMI was calculated.

Result : Non-working perimenopausal and postmenopausal women was more obese in comparison to working perimenopausal and postmenopausal women. Percentage of normal BMI was high in working perimenopausal and postmenopausal women in comparison to non-working perimenopausal and postmenopausal women. Similar percentage (3-3%) of underweight was observed in the four groups.

Conclusion : Mean value of BMI of working postmenopausal women and non-working postmenopausal women was high in comparison to working perimenopausal women and non working perimenopausal women, but no significant difference was observed in the mean value of BMI of the four groups.