Prevalence of Obesity among the Medical Students; A Cross-Sectional Study in Sylhet

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of obesity among the medical students in Bangladesh. Methodology: This descriptive type of Cross-sectional study was carried out at the Department of Biochemistry, Sylhet M.A.G Osmani medical College from july 2018 to June 2019. 850 medical students were the study population. Random sampling was done according to availability of the subjects. Data were collected through interviewing of the subjects. The collected data were entered into the computer and analyzed by using SPSS (version 20.1) Result: Total numbers of subjects both male and female were 850. It comprised of 433 (50.94%) male and 417 (49.05%) female. 54.94% students within normal BMI. 16.7% students were overweight and 20.82% students were obese according to BMI. Among male students prevalence of generalized obesity was 20.09%. Among female students prevalence of generalized obesity was 21.58%. The prevalence of central obesity among male students was 12.93% & in female students was 33.81% (assessed by waist circumference). The prevalence of central abdominal obesity among in male students was 28.40% & in female students was 43.65% (assessed by waist hip ratio). Conclusion: In this study, female students were found more obese. Most of them also had history of sedentary life style.