Mysore childhood obesity study

Abstract

We conducted this study to document the prevalence of obesity, overweight and underweight in the school children aged 5 to 16 years from Mysore. 5 Principal Investigators and 13 Co-Investigators trained the teachers of 139 schools (Private--111, Govt--28) to record the vital statistics of the children studying in their schools. A total of 43,152 school children (23,527 boys and 19,625 girls) were surveyed. 36,354 children were from private schools and 6798 children were from Government (Govt) schools. Indian Academy of Pediatrics growth charts were used as reference. The prevalence of obesity, overweight and underweight were 3.4%, 8.5% and 17.2%, respectively. The prevalence of obesity was maximum in the age group of 5-7 years and in those from private schools.