Prevalence and correlates of underweight and overweight/obesity among women in India: results from the National Family Health Survey 2015–2016

Figures & data

Table 1 Sample and nutritional status by sociodemographic and health variables among women, 2015–2016 India National Family Health Survey

Variable	Sample	Under-weight	Normal weight	Over-weight	Class I Obesity	Class II Obesity	Statistic
		BMI: <18.5 kg/m^2	BMI: 18.5–22.9 kg/m^2	BMI: 23.0–24.9 kg/m^2	BMI: 25.0–29.9 kg/m^2	BMI: ≥30.0 kg/m^2	P-value
	N (%)	%	%	%	%	%
All Age in years 18–24 25–29 30–39 40–49	5,82,320 1,52,934 (26.0) 1,03,410 (17.7) 1,79,545 (30.8) 1,46,429 (25.5)	20.1 31.1 21.2 15.7 13.7	43.6 51.4 47.0 41.0 36.2	13.6 8.7 13.5 15.7 16.3	17.0 7.0 14.6 20.6 24.4	5.7 1.7 3.8 7.0 9.3	<0.001
Education None Primary Secondary Higher	1,81,400 (30.4) 77,838 (13.3) 2,39,772 (42.5) 73,310 (13.9)	23.8 20.3 18.1 15.3	48.2 46.2 45.0 45.1	12.4 13.5 14.1 15.3	12.3 15.4 17.3 18.4	3.3 4.6 5.5 5.9	<0.001
Wealth status Poorest Poorer Middle Richer Richest	1,07,372 (17.1) 1,22,243 (19.3) 1,22,722 (20.6) 1,17,458 (21.5) 1,12,525 (21.5)	32.6 25.0 18.8 13.9 9.3	53.1 51.5 47.6 41.7 36.9	8.2 11.9 14.5 16.0 17.3	5.2 9.9 15.5 21.5 25.8	0.8 1.8 3.7 6.8 10.8	<0.001
Caste Scheduled caste Scheduled tribe Other backward class Other	1,02,878 (18.5) 1,05,837 (19.1) 2,26,770 (40.9) 1,19,289 (21.5)	22.4 30.1 19.9 15.2	45.4 49.0 43.6 39.9	13.2 10.0 13.7 15.3	14.8 8.8 17.2 21.4	4.2 2.1 5.7 8.1	<0.001
Residence
Rural Urban	4,10,051 (65.1) 1,72,269 (34.9)	22.6 13.1	48.9 39.7	12.7 16.0	12.7 22.6	3.1 8.7	<0.001
Health behaviour
Fruit consumption (daily)	61,860 (12.2)	12.0	37.3	16.6	24.1	10.0	<0.001
Dark green leafy vegetables (daily)	2,88,458 (47.5)	19.2	43.4	14.0	17.5	5.9	<0.001
Fried food (daily)	68,813 (9.9)	19.1	43.4	14.6	17.6	5.3	<0.001
Aerated drinks (daily)	27,856 (4.5)	17.5	43.4	14.4	18.1	6.5	<0.001
Tobacco use	57,572 (6.4)	27.4	44.9	12.1	12.4	3.3	<0.001
Drinks alcohol	15,861 (1.4)	18.3	51.1	15.4	12.6	2.5	<0.001
Physical conditions
Hypertension	77,953 (13.5)	11.2	34.5	16.1	26.7	11.5	<0.001
Heart disease	9,660 (1.5)	16.0	38.2	14.8	21.7	9.4	<0.001
Random blood glucose High (141–160 mg/dL) Very high (>160 mg/dL)	19,327 (3.3) 16,304 (3.1)	14.9 9.9	37.6 27.6	14.7 14.2	23.2 31.0	9.7 17.4	<0.001

Table 2 Associations of independent variables with underweight and overweight or obesity (with normal weight as reference category) among women

Variable	Underweight (<18.5 kg/m^2)	Overweight/obesity (≥23 kg/m^2)
	ARRR (95% CI)	ARRR (95% CI)^b
Sociodemographics
Age in years 18–24 25–29 30–39 40–49	1 (Reference) 0.71 (0.69, 0.73)*** 0.56 (0.54, 0.58)*** 0.54 (0.52, 0.56)***	1 (Reference) 2.10 (2.03, 2.18)*** 3.44 (3.33, 3.55)*** 4.39 (4.24, 4.54)***
Education None Primary Secondary or more	1 (Reference) 0.91 (0.88, 0.94)*** 0.86 (0.84, 0.88)***	1 (Reference) 1.24 (1.20, 1.28)*** 1.36 (1.32, 1.40)***
Wealth index Poorest Poorer Middle Richer or richest	1 (Reference) 0.87 (0.85, 0.90)*** 0.74 (0.71, 0.76)*** 0.57 (0.55, 0.59)***	1 (Reference) 1.63 (1.57, 1.69)*** 2.36 (2.28, 2.45)*** 3.46 (3.33, 3.59)***
Caste Scheduled caste Scheduled tribe Other backward class or Other	1 (Reference) 1.12 (1.07, 1.18)*** 0.98 (0.94, 1.01)	1 (Reference) 0.75 (0.72, 0.79)*** 1.03 (1.00, 1.06)*
Urban residence (base = rural residence)	0.89 (0.85, 0.92)***	1.34 (1.30, 1.38)***
Health variables
Fruits (daily) (base = less than daily)	0.88 (0.84. 0.92)***	1.20 (1.16, 1.24)***
Dark vegetables (daily) (base = less than daily)	0.96 (0.94, 0.98)***	0.99 (0.97, 1.01)
Fried food (daily) (base = less than daily)	0.95 (0.91, 0.99)*	1.08 (1.04, 1.13)***
Aerated drinks (daily) (base = less than daily)	0.94 (0.89, 0.99)*	0.96 (0.90, 1.00)
Tobacco use	1.33 (1.28, 1.38)***	0.79 (0.76, 0.83)***
Drinks alcohol	0.94 (0.87, 1.01)	0.95 (0.87, 1.03)
Hypertensive (base = no)	0.80 (0.77, 0.83)***	1.98 (1.92, 2.03)***
Heart disease (base = no)	0.96 (0.88, 1.05)	1.16 (1.08, 1.25)***
Random blood glucose High (141–160 mg/dL) Very high (>160 mg/dL)	0.95 (0.89, 1.01) 0.87 (0.80, 0.95)**	1.49 (1.41, 1.57)*** 2.11 (1.99, 2.25)***

Notes: ***P<0.001; **P<0.01; *P<0.05.

Abbreviation: ARRR, adjusted relative risk ratio.

Data availability

The NFHS-4 data are available at https://dhsprogram.com/data/.