Epidemiological insights into anthropometric indices and their correlates among college students through a university-level screening program in Western India

Introduction: India is facing a dual burden of malnutrition with high prevalence of underweight and increasing prevalence of overweight/obesity. Methodology: This study reports anthropometric findings (body mass index, waist circumference [WC], and waist-hip ratio [WHR]) from the screening of 3296 students admitted during 2018-2019. Results: Majority of the students were male (70%), with a mean age of 18.57 years. About 31% and 19% of students were underweight and overweight, respectively. Given sex-specific cutoffs for WC and WHR, about 5% and 21% of students were at substantially increased risk of metabolic complications. About 14.5% of normal and underweight students were also found to be at substantially increased risk of metabolic complications. Multivariate analysis found increasing age (odds ratio [OR] = 0.92; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.88-0.98) and being male (OR = 0.74; 95% CI: 0.62-0.88) to be protective factors against underweight. We did not find any statistically significant correlation for overweight, for WHR among males, and WC and WHR among females. Conclusion: It has been noted that the college environment increases the risk of weight gain. Hence, it makes a case to periodically study changes in anthropometric measures through a longitudinal study, and accordingly develop life cycle-based interventions for prevention/management of undernutrition, obesity, and related complications.