Rural Childhood Obesity - An Emerging Health Concern

Childhood obesity is growing globally as an epidemic. It is the most common metabolic disease identified in children.

To assess the nutritional status of school going children in Poonamallee, Tamil Nadu and to compare the nutritional status between urban and rural school children.

A retrospective review of the school health records over a period of 9 months was done with Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC) approval for a total of 1,803 children aged 5 to 18 years (916- rural, 887-urban). Revised IAP growth charts (2015) were used to classify their nutrition status.

The overall prevalence of overweight/obesity and thinness/severe thinness in our study was 20% and 9.4%, respectively. In the rural schools, the prevalence of overweight/obesity and thinness was 16.2% and 12.2%, respectively, whereas in the urban schools, it was 24% and 6.4%, respectively. The rural school children had lower mean Z scores of weight for age, height for age, and BMI for age compared to urban children (P < 0.001).

Among rural school children overweight/obesity is more prevalent than undernutrition. There is an urgent need for nutrition education for the school children and community.