title: Prevalence of overweight and obesity among school children and adolescents in Chennai.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents in Chennai, India, using national and international age- and sex- specific body mass index (BMI) cut-off points.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Obesity Reduction and Awareness and Screening of Non communicable diseases through Group Education in Children and Adolescents (ORANGE) project is a cross-sectional study carried out on 18,955 children (age 6-11 years) and adolescents (age 12-17 years) across 51 schools (31 private and 20 government) of Chennai. Overweight and obesity was classified by the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF 2000) and Khadilkars criteria (2012), and Hypertension by the IDF criteria (in children ≥10 years and adolescents).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of overweight/obesity was significantly higher in private compared to government schools both by the IOTF criteria [private schools: 21.4%, government schools: 3.6%, (OR: 7.4, 95% CI:6.3-8.6; P<0.001) and by Khadilkar criteria (private school: 26.4%, government schools: 4.6% OR: 6.9, 95% CI:6.2-7.8; P<0.001). Overweight/obesity was higher among girls (IOTF: 18%, Khadilkar: 21.3%) compared to boys (IOTF: 16.2%, Khadilkar: 20.7%) and higher among adolescents (IOTF: 18.1%, Khadilkar: 21.2%) compared to children (IOTF: 15.5%, Khadilkar: 20.7%). Prevalence of hypertension was 20.4% among obese/overweight and 5.2% among non-obese (OR 4.7, 95%CI: 4.2-5.3, P<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of overweight and obesity is high among private schools in Chennai, and hypertension is also common.
authors.affiliation: Madras Diabetes Research Foundation and Dr Mohan's Diabetes Specialties Centre, Chennai, India. Correspondence to: Dr V Mohan, Director and Chief of Diabetes Research, Madras Diabetes Research Foundation and Dr Mohan's Diabetes Specialities Centre, IDF Centre for Education, 4, Conran Smith Road, Gopalapuram, Chennai 600 086, India. drmohans@diabetes.ind.in.
authors.forename: Sonya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jagadesan
authors.forename: Ranjani
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Harish
authors.forename: Priya
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Miranda
authors.forename: Ranjit
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Unnikrishnan
authors.forename: Ranjit Mohan
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Anjana
authors.forename: Viswanathan
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mohan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*