Majid Khan, Abdur Rasheed.
Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity and Associated Factors Among Young Undergraduate Nursing Students of Public Sector Health University in Karachi.
Ann Pak Inst Med Sci Jan ;12(4):248-53.

Objective: The objective of this research was to identify the prevalence of overweight and obesity and associated factors among young undergraduate nursing students of a health university in Karachi. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was accomplished at Institute of Nursing, Dow University of Health Sciences from December 2015 to March 2016. Information was collected from 146 undergraduate nursing students via pre-tested self-administered questionnaire and standard tools were used for height and weight measurement. By using South Asian cut-off points, overweight and obesity were defined as 23 ≤ BMI < 25 and 25 ≤ BMI respectively. SPSS version 21.0 was used for data analysis, univariate and multivariable logistic regressions were applied to come up with factors of overweight and obesity. Results: In this study, there were 44.5% and 55.5% male and female subjects respectively. Sindhi was most prominent mother tongue among all participants (39.0%). Percentages of overweight and obesity among nursing students were 15.8% and 11.6% respectively. Approximately 35% nursing students were used to having lunch outside the home, 64.4% were having tea a minimum of once a day, 58.2% eating snacks between meals and there were 65% nursing students who performed physical activity at least 30 minutes daily. Predictors of obesity among nursing students include; taking lunch outside home OR=13.23 (3.60— 48.629), snacks between meals OR=4.456 (1.076—18.450), tea OR=7.775 (1.413—42.783), physical activity OR=0.081 (0.022— 0.305). Conclusion: The prevalence of overweight and obesity was high among nursing students of public sector institute in Karachi particularly among male. Having lunch outside the home, snacks between meals, tea intake and lack of physical activity were found to be predictors of obesity. Preventive measures can be suggested for the nurses to keep away from overweighting and obesity.

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