Study of Body Mass Index among Medical Students of a Medical College in Nepal: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Changes in the lifestyle, food habits, lack of nutritious diet, stress, physical inactivity increases the body mass index among adults. Excess weight gain is an important risk factor for non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and some cancers (endometrial, breast, colon). Thus, this study aims to find out body mass index of medical students of a medical college in Nepal. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the department of physiology of a tertiary care center from August 2019 to February 2020 after taking ethical clearence from Institutional Review Committee (Reference number 192/19). Height and weight were recorded and body mass index was then being calculated. Data entry was done in Microsoft Excel and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 22. Results: Out of 266 medical students, 39 (15%) were overweight and 32 (12%) were underweight with mean body mass index 26.60 +/- 1.99kg/m(2) and 17.13 +/- 1.19kg/m(2) respectively. Mean body mass index of males was 21.76 +/- 3.06kg/m(2) and that of females was 21.70 +/- 2.96 kg/m(2). Conclusions: Comparing with a similar study done in Nepal previously, we found a higher prevalence of overweight in medical students whereas majority of medical students had normal weight. Factors affecting body mass index in medical students should be explored further.