AbstractBackground: Obesity is an important modifiable risk factor for most chronic noncommunicable diseases. The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence of overweight/ obesity among adults in rural areas of Ahmednagar. Materials and Methods: This was a cross sectional study conducted among 150 population in rural areas of Ahmednagar. 1545 years adolscents & adultsare interviewed from the consecutive houses with the help of a pretested structured questionnaire. Height, weight, waist circumference and hip circumference were measured using standard anthropometric methodology. Results: Mean age of the study population was 30 years. Mean BMI among women was significantly higher (24.28), compared to men (23.2) with . The prevalence of overweight and obesity in the population was 24% and 40.7% respectively, as per WHO BMI guidelines for Asians. About 51% of women and 35% of men had high waist circumference. Higher proportion of women (77.7%) had high waisthipratio compared to men (48.5%). Conclusion: The prevalence of overweight and obesity is high among adults in rural areas in Ahmednagar.
Keywords: Obesity; Overweight; Prevalence; Rural; Maharashtra.