title: Women's health in India: the role of body mass index.
abstract: We examined the health status of women in relation to their body mass indices and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) by analyzing data from a follow-up study of 325 women, selected from the Indian National Family Health Survey (NFHS-2/1998-99) Delhi samples, reinterviewed after 4 years (2003). Obese women were five times more likely (OR = 4.87; p <.0001) and women with a higher WHR (> 0.90) were two times more likely (OR = 1.70; p =.050) to perceive their health condition as worse than others. Arthritis, hypertension, and shortness of breath were found to be higher among obese women and women with a high WHR. Healthy lifestyle choices must be promoted to contain the growing burden of obesity-related health problems among Indian women.
authors.affiliation: a Population Council , New Delhi , India.
authors.forename: Praween
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Agrawal
authors.forename: Kamla
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Vinod
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mishra
authors.forename: Sutapa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Agrawal
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000886:Anthropometry; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008019:Life Style; D016015:Logistic Models; D008875:Middle Aged; D009017:Morbidity; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D049629:Waist-Hip Ratio; D016387:Women's Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D055815:Young Adult