ORIGINAL ARTICLE pISSN 0976 3325│eISSN 2229 6816 Open Access Article www.njcmindia.org ASSESSMENT OF MAGNITUDE AND THE CO-MORBIDITIES OF OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY IN URBAN AND RURAL AREAS OF KANPUR Naresh Pal Singh1, Pankaj K Jain2, R P Sharma3, Suresh Chandra4, Seema Nigam4, Anamika Singh5 Financial Support: None declared Conflict of interest: None declared ABSTRACT Copy right: The Journal retains the copyrights of this article. However, reproduction of this article in the Background: Obesity is emerging as a global epidemic with part or total in any form is permis- growing threat to health in both developed and developing coun- sible with due acknowledgement of tries. It has become a major health concern for almost all the age the source. groups of the society. Objectives of the study is assess the preva- How to cite this article: lence and co-morbidities of overweight and obesity among per- Singh NP, Jain PK, Sharma RP, sons 15 years and above in urban and rural areas of Kanpur, UP. Chandra S, Nigam S, Singh A. As- Methods: For this cross-sectional study, multistage random sam- sessment of Magnitude and the Co- pling technique was used to select one colony in urban and one morbidities of Overweight and Obesity in Urban and Rural areas of village in rural area of Kanpur district. The desired sample size Kanpur. Natl J Community Med. was 2200. Detailed socio-demographic information was collected 2015; 6(1):1-5. on a pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire. After anthropo- metric examination, Body Mass Index (BMI) was used to assess Author’s Affiliation: the overweight and obesity status. Random blood sugar was 1Associate Professor; 2Additional measured using a portable glucometer. Data thus collected was Professor, Dept. of Community analyzed using Chi-square test and percentage. Medicine, UP RIMS & R, Saifai, Etawah, U.P; 3Professor and Head, Results: Statistically significant higher trend of obesity (BMI ≥ 4Professor, Dept. of Community 30.0 kg/m2) was observed in urban population with total 2.9% Medicine, GSVM Medical College, (1.2% in males and 4.8% in females) in comparison to rural popu- Kanpur, U.P; 5Lecturer, Dept. of lation with total 0.6% (0.4 % in males and 0.8% in females). Physiology, UP RIMS & R, Saifai, Etawah, U.P. Conclusions: Overweight and obesity is a complex multi-factorial disease developing from interactive influences of numerous fac- Correspondence: tors in urban and rural settings. Dr. Naresh Pal Singh, Email: [email protected] Keywords: Overweight, Obesity, Body Mass Index Date of Submission: 01-10-14 Date of Acceptance: 14-021-15 Date of Publication: 31-03-15 INTRODUCTION Overweight is the precursor of obesity.WHO1 defines obesity as "abnormal or excessive fat ac- Since ancient times, weight gain and 'fatness' cumulation in adipose tissue, to the extent that have been viewed as a sign of health, prosperity health is impaired" and leading to reduced life and beauty. But now, overweight and obesity are expectancy and/or increased health prob- posing a growing threat to health in both devel- lems2.On average, obesity reduces life expectan- oped and developing world and adversely af- cy by six to seven years;2,3 a BMI of 30–35 kg/m2 fecting the adults as well as children. National Journal of Community Medicine│Volume 6│Issue 1│Jan – Mar 2015 Page 1 Open Access Journal │www.njcmindia.org pISSN 0976 3325│eISSN 2229 6816 reduces life expectancy by two to four years,4 gapur village of Kanpur to study the required while severe obesity (BMI > 40 kg/m2) reduces sample size from March 2005 to July 2006. life expectancy by ten years.4Obesity increases All the persons aged 15 years and above were the likelihood of various diseases, particularly considered as a sampling unit for this study. heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obstructive sleep Sample size (n) was calculated by taking preva- apnea, certain types of cancer, and osteoarthri- lence (p) of obesity approximately 15% and with tis.2 Obesity is most commonly caused by a com- margin of error (d) as 10% of prevalence by for- bination of excessive food energy intake, lack of 푝(1−푝) mula: 푛 = 푍2 physical activity, and genetic susceptibility, alt- ∝/2 푑2 hough a few cases are caused primarily by genes, Minimum sample size was calculated to be 2177 endocrine disorders, medications, or psychiatric and it was approximated to the nearest hundred, illness. These health problems are responsible for i.e. 2200 for conducting the study. The study high morbidity and mortality in both urban and population was selected by using multistage rural communities. Overweight and obesity are random sampling technique. For urban area, essentially due to energy imbalance. Evidence to firstly, all the 110 wards of Kanpur Nagar were support the view that some obese people eat lit- listed and one ward was randomly selected. In tle yet gain weight due to a slow metabolism is the second stage, all the colonies/ mohallas in limited. On average, obese people have greater the selected ward were listed down and one col- energy expenditure than their thin counterparts ony, Vishnupuri, was randomly selected. Simi- due to the energy required to maintain an in- larly for rural area, all the 10 blocks in first stage 5,6 creased body mass. were listed and one block, Kalyanpur, was ran- Obesity is one of the leading preventable causes domly selected. In the second stage, all the vil- of death worldwide.7,8,9Obesity is emerging as a lages in the selected block were listed down and global epidemic. It is estimated that about 315 one village, Baniyapur, was randomly selected. million people worldwide fall into the WHO- To cover the required sample size, adjoining vil- defined obesity categories with BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2. lage, Durgapur, was also covered. A further 750 million people are estimated to be Systematic sampling method was used to 2 overweight in the BMI 25.0 - 29.9 kg/m catego- achieve the desired sampling size. First lane was ry. This figure can double by year 2025 if no ac- randomly selected by lottery method. The first tion is taken against this threat.National Family household of that lane was selected by using the Health Survey (2005-06) of India, revealed preva- last digit of randomly chosen currency note. The lence of overweight/obesity to be 12.1% in males purpose of the study was explained to the head and 16.0% in females with Punjab ranking first of the family and informed consent taken. All the 10 and Tripura last. family members were listed and the detailed in- Life runs in its full spectrum of riches and rags in formation with regards to their name, age, sex, Kanpur with population of over 50 lacs and is religion, caste, marital status, address, education, one of the greatest industrial giants of northern occupation, income, weight and height was elic- India. Surrounding the Kanpur Nagar, there is a ited and collected. Simultaneously BMI (Body big belt of rural settlement engaged in agricul- Mass Index) values of eligible persons i.e. aged ture, farming, dairy work and forestry. In the 15 years and above were calculated using the race of urbanization and industrialization, both formula: BMI= Weight in Kg / (Height in meter) urban and rural inhabitants are bound to share 2 various associated factors of overweight and WHO1 (2000) has recommended the following obesity. Hence, this study was conducted to as- criteria for classification of obesity: certain the magnitude and the co-morbidities of overweight and obesity in urban and rural com- munity of Kanpur. Classification BMI (Kg/m2) Risk of co-morbidities Underweight < 18.5 Low Normal range 18.5 -- 24.9 Average METHODS Overweight ≥ 25.0 Pre-obese 25.0 -- 29.9 Mildly increased The present study was carried out in the Vish- Obese ≥ 30.0 nupuri colony of urban area while in rural area; Class-I 30.0 -- 34.9 Moderate the study was conducted in Baniyapur and Dur- Class-II 35.0 -- 39.9 Severe Class-III ≥ 40.0 Very severe National Journal of Community Medicine│Volume 6│Issue 1│Jan – Mar 2015 Page 2 Open Access Journal │www.njcmindia.org pISSN 0976 3325│eISSN 2229 6816 The study subjects comprised of all members comprised maximum people (33.5% in the urban who were overweight (BMI ≥ 25.0Kg/m2) and and 34.0% in rural) followed by 25-34 years age aged 15 years and above. They were interviewed group (23.0% in urban and 26.6% in rural area). It personally for history of associated diseases sup- was seen that 45.8% of urban and 0.7% of rural plemented with clinical and anthropometrical study population belonged to social class I (Mod- examination of individuals. The hypertension ified B.G. Prasad’s Classification). The decreasing was assessed by measurement of two readings of trend in the percentage of population, from so- blood pressure, at an interval of five minutes cial class I to class IV, has been observed in ur- each; by a standard mercury sphygmomanome- ban area while it was in increasing order in rural ter with the cuff size 12.5 cm. The target individ- area. uals were classified into pre-hypertensive and Table 1 depicts the sex wise distribution of study hypertensive according to the criteria by “The population according to their BMI status. A Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee higher prevalence of overweight (BMI ≥ 25.0 - (JNC VII, 2003) on detection, Evaluation, and 29.9 Kg/m2) was observed in urban study popu- Treatment of High Blood Pressure” (Chobanian, lation with total 13.6% (12.1% in males and 15.2% 2003)11.