Prevalence of obesity and awareness about diabetes among adolescents of schools of Delhi

Abstract Background Diabetes is an epidemic of the present century and its growing prevalence among adolescents is a genuine concern. Therefore, awareness about the disease prior to its occurrence is the need of the hour. The present study addresses this issue at length based on a data pertaining to diabetes awareness, type of schooling and mothers' literacy etc. collected from a large number of adolescents of various schools of Delhi. Objectives To assess i) the status of obesity, and awareness of diabetes ii) the effectiveness of ‘structured teaching program on management of diabetes mellitus' in generating awareness. Methods We conducted the study on 1785 students – 950 from twelve government schools and 835 from ten private schools. The level of awareness of students was measured through a validated questionnaire. Data was analyzed using primarily nonparametric statistical methods Results Wilcoxon signed rank test indicated a significant rise in awareness following the structured teaching program. Private schools performed significantly better than those of government ones (p = 0.005) in pre-teaching. Chi Square showed significant association of BMI with type of schooling (p  Conclusions High prevalence of obesity among the adolescents is alarming, particularly in private schools. Gravity of the situation demands generating awareness about the management of the disease at the right stage.