Prevalence of overweight and obesity in affluent adolescent girls in Chennai in 1981 and 1998.

To assess the prevalence of obesity and overweight in adolescent girls between 10-15 years of age, among the affluent families of Chennai--two studies are compared using body mass index (BMI) as a parameter. The first study done in the year 1981 (Group I) was compared with the second study in 1998 (Group II). Group I had 707 and group II had 610 girls. Overweight and obesity were denoted by BMI above 85th and 95th percentile respectively. Results showed a 9.6% prevalence of overweight and 6% prevalence of obesity in both studies. It was also observed that the BMI for the same age in the two study periods showed an increase from 1981 to 1998. BMI approximated the international reference values for BMI at age 13 years in the year 1998.