To Study the Frequency of Obesity Among Female Students of Nishtar Medical College, Multan

Abstract

Objectives:   1. To find out obesity frequency among female students of Nishtar Medical College by measuring their Body Mass Index.  2-To create awareness about hazards of obesity among them.

Study Design:  Observational / Cross sectional study.

Place and duration of study:  This Study was carried out at Nishtar Medical College, Multan from October 2015 to December, 2015.

Materials and Methods: A sample of 250 female students was taken by convenient sampling technique,50 students from each class were included in the study. After taking informed consent, all the desired in formations were collected by developing a structured questionnaire.  Excel and SPSS software were used to analyze data.

Results: Out of the total 250 students, 80(32%) were obese and 170(68%) were non-obese. Among the obese students, 24(30%) were from final year and 13(16.25%) were from first year MBBS class. There was very high percentage of  obese students 59(73.75%) belonging to middle socioeconomic class. Most of the students 42 (52.5%) were consuming 2100-2500 calories/day. Among the obese students, only 10(12.5%) were doing exercise daily. 22 (27.5%)students had positive family history of obesity. About 13(16.25%) students were consuming fast food once daily and 46(57.5%)were taking 2-3 times per week.

Conclusion: Obesity is a significant problem among female medical students. The main risk factors identified were   middle economic status,  lack of exercise , overall sedentary life style, with high calories and fast food consumption.