Prevalence of Obesity in School Children

The present investigation was conducted on school going children (9-15 years) from Hisar and Gurgaon city, Haryana state India. A total of 400 obese children were selected randomly (200 each from both cities). Hundred healthy school going children having no history of obesity and matching the same age as those of obese children were taken as control (50 each from both cities). The information on socio-economic status, food habits and dietary pattern of the children was gathered using self-developed questionnaire. The study revealed that prevalence of obesity was higher (7.41%) among school going children from Gurgaon city as compared to Hisar city (5.79%). It was observed that mean values for most of the anthropometric parameters for obese respondents were significantly higher than non-obese group respondents.The study revealed that a higher percentage (57.5%) of obese children were from 12-15yr age group. Majorities of non-obese group (76%) as well as obese children were from nuclear families having up to five members in the family. Total monthly income of the family of obese respondents was above Rs. 15,000. Ten percent of non-obese children's fathers were above graduate whereas 30 to 36% of obese children's fathers were above graduate in Gurgaon and Hisar city,respectively. Income of the family of obese respondents was found positively associated with weight of obese respondents.