Background: Obesity results when the size or number of fat cells in a person's body increases. When a person gains weight, these fat cells first increase in size and later in number. When a person starts losing weight, the cells decrease in size, but the number of fat cells generally stays the same. This is part of the reason that once you gain a significant amount of weight, it is more difficult to lose it. The global epidemic of overweight and obesity - “globesity” - is rapidly becoming a major public health problem in many parts of the world. The obesity epidemic moves through a population in a reasonably consistent pattern over time and this is reflected in the different patterns in low- and high income countries. In more affluent countries, it is associated with lower socioeconomic status, especially in women, and rural communities.
Material and Methods: The study was a population based cross sectional survey conducted among residents of rural area of Kashmir Valley in the age group of 25-64yrs. WHO STEP wise approach was utilized for conducting the study. A multistage cluster sampling design was used. People having secondary obesity, drug induced obesity and pregnant ladies were excluded from this study. The data was collected and analyzed using statistical software and chi square statistical test were applied.
Results: Out of total 960 participants 12.29% were obese. Prevalence of overweight/obesity was higher in females with 48.11%. Highest prevalence for overweight/obesity was in age group of 45-54 years (55.55%). The percentage of Overweight/obese was highest in post graduates (65.78%). The prevalence of Overweight/Obese increases with higher socio-economic classes. Overweight/obese was highest in married (46.31%) followed by ever married (44.18%) and then by unmarried (28.52%). This association was statistically highly significant (p value<0.001).
Conclusion: This study found a high burden of major risk factor of non-communicable diseases with 40.62% overweight or obese. Since risk factors for major NCDs tend to appear in early life and track down into adulthood, it is thus, needed to identify those adults or groups with unfavorable risk profiles.