Abstract:
According to World Health Organization (WHO) obesity is one of the major health issues
and yet the most neglected among the populations world over. According to WHO
recommendations BMI (Body Mass Index) is a simple, practical and epidemiological
measure of identifying overweight and obesity among individuals. The aim of the
present study was to determine the relationship between BMI and other factors such as
gender, dietary habits, physical activity, geographical location and family history,
among the selected group of medical students. The sample consisted of 157 healthy
second year medical students, aged between 20 and 23 years, out of which 63 were male
and 94 were female. The study was carried out to assess the obesity among the selected
group of students by calculating BMI and to determine the factors correlated with BMI.
In order to achieve the stated objective, we assessed the obesity among the selected
group individuals by calculating BMI (kg/m2) and analyzed the factors correlated with
BMI. The results are presented as mean±SEM. ANOVA test and t test were performed to
determine the significant difference. All the statistical analyses were done using SPSS
version 19.0 and Microsoft Excel 2007. Based on the BMI cutoff value of the WHO
classification, 30.76% of the male students and 34.1% of the female students were found
to be overweight or obese. The t- test results indicated that the mean BMI values for
male and female were not significantly different (p- value =0.836). As per the ANOVA
test results the mean BMI value of subgroups of non- vegetarians, regular consumers of
meat, fish and egg, were significantly deferent (p value= 0.001). The mean values of the
two groups, consuming fast food regularly and not consuming fast food that regularly
were significantly different (p value=0.000). There was no significant deference
between the two groups, consuming fruits regularly and not consuming fruits regularly
(p-value= 0.061). Among two groups engaging in physical activities regularly and not
engaging regularly, the difference in mean BMI values was statistically significant (pvalue= 0.000). However there was no significant difference (p-value =0.115) between
the urban and suburban groups. The mean BMI of the subjects in two groups i.e. parent’s
have at least one from the following disease (CHD, DM and HT) are not statistically
significant (p value = 0.043). With the findings taken into account, BMI value was
significantly affected by vegetarian diet, regular fast food consumption and engaging
physical activity. However there was no significant deference between the mean BMI
value and other factors such as gender, regular fruit consumption, geographical location
and family history
