Assessment of Obesity using various Anthropometric Variables among Young Adult Females of Amritsar (Punjab)

Obesity is a widespread and growing problem in developed and developing countries with significant medical, psychosocial and economic consequences. Prevalence of obesity has increased substantially in the last two or three decades worldwide. The prevalence statistics shows that obesity pandemic is penetrating even in the developing nations like India. In the present study an attempt has been made to report the prevalence of obesity on the basis of various anthropometric variables among young adult Jat-Sikh females of Punjab, ranging in age from 18-25 years. For the assessment of obesity, height, weight, waist circumference and hip circumference were taken on 150 young adult females. The prevalence of obesity was calculated according to Body Mass Index (BMI), Waist Circumference (WC), Waist-Hip-Ratio (WHR) and Waist-Stature-Ratio (WSR). The observations revealed that the prevalence of undernutrition, overweight and obesity according to BMI in young adult females was 21.3%, 20% and 10.7%, respectively. The prevalence of abdominal obesity according to the WC, WHR and WSR was 34%, 57% and 37%, respectively. The results of the comparative analysis showed that absolute prevalence of obesity vary according to the parameter used.