Original Research Article
Year: 2018 | Month: January | Volume: 8 | Issue: 1 | Pages: 209-214
Assessment of Weight Status among Police Head Constables in Delhi
Komal Rathi1, Kalyani Singh2
1PhD Research Scholar, 2Associate Professor,
Department of Food and Nutrition, Lady Irwin College, University of Delhi.
Corresponding Author: Komal Rathi
ABSTRACT
Background: Police work is mentally demanding and stressful, which takes a heavy toll on the health of police personnel. The consequences are obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes which should be curbed to maintain sound health.
Methods: This was a cross sectional study that assessed the weight status of 85 male police head constables in Delhi. A predesigned & pretested questionnaire was used to elicit information on socio demographic and job profile of the participants. Height, weight, waist circumference (WC), body fat (BF) percentage and blood pressure of the participants were measured. Data was analyzed using SPSS 16.0 software.
Results: As per the World Health Organization (WHO), body mass index (BMI) classification, 60% (n=51) of the subjects were overweight and 12 % (n=10) were class I obese. According to adult treatment panel (ATP III) classification of waist circumference 41.2 % (n=35) of the subjects had above the desired level of WC. It was seen that 47.1% (n=40) had BF percentage of the overweight category and 45.8 % (n=39) were lying in the obese category. A strong positive correlation was found between BMI and body fat % (r= 0.93, p < 0.05). About 23.5% (n=20) of the subjects were found to be prehypertensive and 63.6% (n=54) had stage I hypertension.
Conclusion: Noticeable prevalence of overweight and obesity was found among the police constables along with associated comorbidities, emphasizing the need for suitable prevention strategies.
Key words: Police, Obesity, BMI