Central and Overall Adiposity among Adolescents from Different Socio Economic Classes in Urban India

The objective of the study is to examine social class differences in body fat patterns among adolescents from India. The cross sectional study was carried out among the school children from Pune city, India. Adolescents (9-16 yrs) from schools catering to Lower Socio Economic (LSE; 943 boys, 1000 girls), Middle Socio Economic (MSE; 929 boys, 968 girls) and High Socio Economic (HSE; 867 boys, 1042 girls) classes were measured for weight, height, body fat, skinfolds and waist circumference. Results revealed that prevalence of overweight using BMI (IOTF) cut-off was negligible in LSE class (2% boys, 3.8% girls) but was 4 to 6 times higher in MSE class (12.8% boys, 13.4% girls) and almost 8 to 10 times higher in HSE class (20.6% boys, 20.7% girls). In each social class, prevalence of overweight based on body fat per cent was highest while that based on triceps skinfold cut-off was lowest compared to that based on BMI indicating that for a given BMI, adolescents have relatively higher body fat, not deposited at triceps but at abdomen. Further, with increase in BMI from lowest to highest quartile, increase (%) in central skinfolds and WC was higher among children from HSE (~300% and 35% respectively) and MSE (~200% and 30% respectively) classes than from LSE (~100% and 20% respectively) class in both sexes. Despite large differences in prevalence of overweight, increase in central adiposity with increase in BMI was a common feature across all social classes which demands examination of health consequences of central adiposity even among adolescents.