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Hindi Research Article
Overweight and Obesity among Medical Students of Public Sector's Institutes in Karachi, Pakistan
| Sajid Mahmood1*, Tahira Perveen1, Muhammad Najjad2, Naeem Yousuf2, Faizan Ahmed2 and Nasir Ali2 | |
| 1School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, S1 4DA, United Kingdom | |
| 2Dow University of Health Sciences, Baba-e-Urdu Road, Karachi, Pakistan | |
| Corresponding Author : | Sajid Mahmood School of Health and Related Research University of Sheffield, S1 4DA, United Kingdom Tel: +447868343198 Fax: +441142242424 E-mail: drsajid_smcian@hotmail.com |
| Received December 21, 2012; Accepted January 29, 2013; Published January 31, 2013 | |
| Citation: Mahmood S, Perveen T, Najjad M, Yousuf N, Ahmed F, et al. (2013) Overweight and Obesity among Medical Students of Public Sector’s Institutes in Karachi, Pakistan. J Obes Wt Loss Ther 3:157. doi:10.4172/2165-7904.1000157 | |
| Copyright: © 2013 Mahmood S, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. | |
Abstract
Objectives: To determine the factors associated with overweight and obesity among medical students of public sector’s institutes in Karachi, Pakistan. Methodology: A university based cross-sectional analytic study was conducted in public sector institutes of Karachi. Data was collected from first year to final year medical students through convenient sampling technique by using self administered questionnaire followed by anthropometric measurement. The outcome variable “overweight or obesity” was defined by using South Asian BMI (≥ 23) cut-off points. Logistic regression technique was applied by using software SPSS to determine the factors associated with overweight and obesity among medical students. Results: A total of 428 medical students participated in study. Prevalence of overweight and obesity among medical students was found to be 14.7%, 12.4% respectively. Among boys it was 47.7% whereas among girls it was 15.9%. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was associated with male gender (adjusted OR=4.96 (95% C.I: 3.02 - 8.15)), lunch taking from college/outside home (adjusted OR=3.67 (95% C.I: 2.44 - 6.61)), snacks taking habit between the meals (adjusted OR=1.95 (95% C.I: 1.03 - 3.68)), and tea drinking habit (adjusted OR=2.50 (95% C.I: 1.38 - 4.54)). Conclusion: Prevalence of overweight and obesity among medical students was high in our sample population. Multifaceted efforts are required to target this high risk group of medical students to prevent obesity and its related morbidity and mortality.
