Utility of Consensus Statement in Assessment of Obesity: A Study among Undergraduate Medical Students from Rural Northwest India.
BACKGROUND
In India, obesity is emerging as an important health problem particularly in the urban areas, paradoxically coexisting with under nutrition. Almost 30-65% of adult Indians are either overweight or obese or have abdominal obesity.


METHODS
A cross-sectional study design was used to assess the prevalence of obesity among undergraduate medical using consensus statement for obesity in India.


RESULTS
The results of the body mass index (BMI) calculations show 26 females and 4 males (29.79% of total students) with a BMI of <18 kg/m(2) as underweight, whereas 13 boys and 4 girls (15.54% of total students) as obese with a BMI of 25 kg/m(2) and above. A total of 18 boys and 6 girls (21.26% of total students) were overweight with a BMI between 23 and 24.9 kg/m(2).


CONCLUSIONS
It is estimated that by application of these guidelines, additional 10-15% of Indian population would be labeled as obese or overweight. We see this very clearly in our study, where we see an increase of 14.53% of students classified as obese and 5.93% students as overweight on using the guidelines of the consensus statement.
Department of Community Medicine, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College, Tanda, Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, India.
Shailja
S
Sharma
Department of Community Medicine, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College, Tanda, Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, India.
Sunil Kumar
SK
Raina
Department of Community Medicine, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College, Tanda, Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, India.
Ashok Kumar
AK
Bhardwaj
Department of Community Medicine, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College, Tanda, Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, India.
Vishav
V
Chander
Department of Community Medicine, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College, Tanda, Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, India.
Dinesh
D
Kumar
Department of Community Medicine, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College, Tanda, Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, India.
Sushant
S
Sharma
Consensus statement; obesity; utility