title: Rural-urban comparison in prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents of Asian Indian origin.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study whether the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents is restricted by habitat (urban vs rural).
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 753 healthy children and adolescents, out of which 293 (159 boys and 134 girls) were collected Santiniketan (rural area) and 460 (241 boys and 219 girls) were from Calcutta and the suburbs (urban area), aged 8 to 18 years took part in the study. Participants were subsequently divided into 3 age groups: group I, 8 to 12 years; group II, 13 to 15 years, and group III, 16 to 18 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  It was observed that the overall prevalence of overweight and obesity in the study was 9.6% and 5.7%, respectively. Urban residence and high level of parental education are associated with overweight and obesity in children and adolescents (R(2) = 40.3%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents is not restricted to any particular habitat and warrants early intervention if this global epidemic is to be checked.
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Research Laboratory, Department of Anthropology, Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan, West Bengal, India. arnab_cu@rediffmail.com
authors.forename: Arnab
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ghosh
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012424:Rural Population; D014505:Urban Population