Regional Disparities in Dual Burden of Malnutrition among Rural Men in India: Evidence from National Family Health Survey

Background: The steadily increase in prevalence of overweight/obesity coexisted with under-nutrition can pose a major public health problem among adult populations in most of developing countries. In India, the prevalence of overweight/obesity is increasing rapidly, particularly among men. So an attempt was made to study the regional disparities in duel burden of malnutrition among rural men aged ۱۵-۵۴ years in India.Methods: Data from fourth round of National Family Health Survey (NFHS-۴, ۲۰۱۵-۱۶) of India was used for this study. Totally, ۶۷۲,۱۷۷۹ men aged ۱۵-۵۴ years were interviewed from rural areas of India. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to quantify the results.Results: A total of ۲۳% of men aged ۱۵-۵۴ years in rural regions of India were underweight and ۱۵% were overweight or obese. The risk of underweight was highest in central regions followed by west and east regions, in men in younger age and among unmarried subjects. Overweight/obesity was more prevalent in southern regions followed by north and west regions, among men in older age, and in married cases. Educational level, wealth index, and access to media were positively associated with overweight/obesity.Conclusion: In India, the prevalence of overweight/obesity was shown to be double among men in rural areas; whereas underweight is still prevalent that denotes to an alarming and necessity for an effective policy and program implementations to address this situation.

Keywords:

Regional variation , Under-nutrition , Overweight , Obesity , India