Assessment of Obesity and Associated Risk Factors of Diabesity in an Urban Population in Central India

Background Over the past 20 years, the prevalence of adult obesity has doubled. International awareness of the body mass index (BMI) as a benchmark for identifying and categorizing overweight and obesity has grown. This study was conducted to assess the socio-demographic factors of the study participants, assess the prevalence of obesity amongst the study subjects, find an association between risk factors and diabesity, and assess obesity using the percentage body fat and waist-hip ratio of study participants. Methods This study was undertaken among diabetes patients residing in the field practice area of the Urban Health and Training Centre (UHTC), Wadi, affiliated with the Datta Meghe Medical College, Nagpur, from July 2022 to September 2022. Two hundred and seventy-eight diabetic people were included as study participants. Systematic random sampling was used to identify study subjects visiting UHTC, Wadi. The World Health Organization's step-by-step approach to the surveillance of risk factors for chronic diseases served as the model for the questionnaire. Results Among the 278 diabetic study participants, the prevalence of generalized obesity was 76.61%. Obesity was more prevalent in subjects with a family history of diabetes. All hypertensive subjects were obese. Obesity was more prevalent among tobacco chewers. In obesity assessment using body fat percentage when compared with standard BMI, the sensitivity was found to be 84% and specificity was 48%. Conclusion Body fat percentage is a simple estimation that can identify obesity among diabetic individuals who are non-obese by BMI. We can change the behavior amongst non-obese diabetic individuals by giving health education, thereby reducing insulin resistance and improving compliance and adherence to the treatment.