A DESCRIPTIVE CORRELATIONAL STUDY TO ASSESS THE LEVEL OF KNOWLEDGE AND PREVALENCE OF RISK FACTORS FOR OBESITY RELATED MORBIDITY AMONG ADOLESCENT GIRLS

Background of the Study: Adolescent Girls are high risk for weight gain, characterized by significant changes in body composition, insulin sensitivity, eating, lifestyle and behavioural adjustments and are prone to get obesity related morbidity like diabetes mellitus and heart diseases. Objectives: To determine the relationship between knowledge and prevalence of risk factors for obesity related morbidity and withtheir selected demographic variables. Methods& Materials: Descriptive correlational design, quantitative survey approach & non probability convenience sampling were used for this study. The pre obese and obese participants were selected through Body Mass Index calculation. The self-administered questionnaire for knowledge on obesity and observation checklist for obesity related morbidity were used as tools for data collection. Results: In this study total out of 126 female adolescent girls 82 (65.07%) were pre-obese and 44 (34.92%) were obese. Majority of the adolescent girls70 (55.5%) had moderate knowledge on obesity and only 16 (12.6%) adolescent girls had adequate knowledge, rest of 40 (31.7%) had inadequate knowledge on obesity.Polycystic ovarian disorder, thyroid problems, diabetes, anaemia, menarche, duration of menstrual period, stress management techniques, area of residence had significant association with prevalence of risk factors for obesity related morbidity at p < 0.001 level.Among 126 samples most of the adolescent girls 78 (61.9%) had high risk and 48 (38.09%) had moderate risk level for developing obesity related morbidity. There is a negative correlation between Knowledge score level on obesity and Prevalence of risk factors for obesity related morbidity(r value= - 0.759).