Utility of Consensus Statement in Assessment of Obesity: A Study among Undergraduate Medical Students from Rural Northwest India

INTRODUCTION: 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. MATERIALS AND 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). DISCUSSION: 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.