Sheikh N H, Haider A, Khan F F, Khan F S, Humayun A.
Body mass index and its associated factors in young medical students.
Biomedica Jan ;30(4):284-8.

Objective: To identify factors associated with Body Mass Index (BMI) of young adults in a medical school. Methodology: A descriptive cross – sectional study was conducted among students of Akhtar Saeed Medical Dental College Lahore, Pakistan from Jan. 2012 to July 2012. A representative sample of 103 regular medical students was randomly selected. Their heights and weights were recorded and structured questionnaire was filled after taking consent for interview on dietary habits, intake of breakfast and fast food, physical activity, exercise, family history and mood swings. The data was entered and analyzed on SPSS vs. 20. BMI was calculated, and relationship of BMI with different factors was assessed by using chi-square test. Results: Out of total 103 students, 57 (55.3%) were females. The mean age was 20.27 ± 1.292 years. Ninty seven students (94.2%) belongs to the family having income / capita / month ≥ than Rs. 10,000 and only 2 (1.9%) families were having illiterate parents. Family history of obesity was positive among 25 (24.3%) students. Fifty one (49.5%) students were hostilites. Total 58 (56.3%) had BMI ≥ 25 and among them 28 (27.18%) were males and 30 (29.12%) were females (p = 0.402). only 8 males and 4 females were obese having BMI ≥ (p = 0.103) this difference was insignificant. The difference in BMI among those who used to take exercise and those who didn’t take exercise was significant (p = 0.038). Association of Income / capita / month was found insignificant in overweight (p = 0.242) and obesity (p = 0.359). Fast food consumption and mood swings were also found insignificant as young adults are more concerned about their figure (p = 0.49 and p = 0.88 respectively). Conclusion: The problem of overweight and obesity was quite high. Obese males and overweight females students were more. It is an alarming situation and attention must be given to address it by creating awareness and health education among young adults.

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