Abstract
Objectives. To estimate prevalence of overweight and obesity in apparently healthy children from five zones of India in the age group of 2 to 17 years and to examine trends in body mass index (BMI) during the last two decades with respect to published growth data. Methods. A multicentric study was conducted in eleven affluent urban schools from five geographical zones of India. A total of 20 243 children (1 823 – central zone, 2 092 – east zone, 5 526 – north zone, 3 357 – south zone, and 7 445 – west zone) in the age group of 2–17 years were studied. Height and weight were measured and BMI was calculated (kg/m2). WHO Anthro plus was used to calculate Z-scores for height, weight and BMI. A comparison between study population and previously available nationally representative (1989) data was performed for each age-sex group. International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) and WHO cut-offs were used to calculate the percentage prevalence of overweight and obesity. Results. The overall prevalence of overweight and obesity was 18.2% by the IOTF classification and 23.9% by the WHO standards. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was higher in boys than girls. Mean BMI values were significantly higher than those reported in the 1989 data from 5–17 years at all ages and for both sexes. Conclusion. The rising trend of BMI in Indian children and adolescents observed in this multicentric study rings alarm bells in terms of associated adverse health consequences in adulthood.
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Acknowledgments
Our sincere thanks to HCJMRI, Eli Lilly India and the UK Medical Research Council for funding this study. We are very grateful to all the participating investigators for the meticulous data collection.
Participating investigators
Sanwar Agarwal, Director, Ekta Institute of Child Health, Raipur; Archana Dayal Arya, Consultant Pediatric Endocrinologist, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi; Anil Bhansali, Prof. & Head, Department of Endocrinology, PGIMER, Chandigarh; Shaila Bhattacharya, Consultant Pediatric Endocrinologist, Manipal Hospital, Bangalore; Rajesh Chokhani, Consultant Pediatrician, Health care for children, Mumbai; Subhankar Chowdhury, Head of Dept of Endocrinology and Metabolism, IPGME& R and SSKM. Hospital, Kolkata; Vaishali Ghelani Consultant Pediatrician, Girgaon, Mumbai; Jayashree Gopal, Senior Consultant Endocrinologist and Diabetologist, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai; Jayanthy Ramesh, Consultant Pediatric Endocrinologist, Hyderabad; Mona Shah, Consultant Endocrinologist, Baroda.
Contributors
This study was planned by AVK, VVK and TJC. AVK organized the data collection. Data were analyzed and the manuscript was prepared by all authors. AVK will act as guarantor of the study.
Funding
Unconditional Grant from Eli Lilly India and the HCJMRI Jehangir Hospital, Pune. TJC was funded by UK Medical Research Council grant G0700961.
Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.