Description

The word obesity is derived from the Latin word Obesitas (Ob - over; Esus - Eating) means fat, stout, or plump. Obesity is associated with more than 200 disorders, that affects the entire human body. Currently, numerous reports are available wherein obesity and its associated conditions worsen the outcomes of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Though obesity is a preventable condition, in 20I5, more than four million premature deaths were associated with overweightness and obesity.

Over the last century, obesity has emerged as a leading global pandemic through sedentary lifestyle associated with recent physiological, psychological, environmental, socio- economic and genetic factors 5]. Other than these factors, physical inactivity also plays a prominent role in development of obesity. It is reported that 3.2 million mortalities have happened due to physical inactivity across the globe. In 2016, around 1.9 billion people were identified as overweight, wherein 650 million people fell under the category of obese. The prevalence of obesity has tripled during 1975 to 2016. More people are reported to be obese than underweight and malnourished across globe, excluding sub- Saharan Africa and Asia continents. Children's obesity is also increasing drastically, where the affected children mainly belong to the developing countries, posing an additional health burden for the futuristic world. Approximately 10-fold increment in childhood and adolescence obesity was reported during the last four decades.

The diagnosis of obesity is currently based only on BMT, without an indication of the impact of excess adiposity on health. Sometimes, the BMT approach also lacks sensitivity towards individuals. To overcome these problems, numerous methods have been suggested. Waist-Hip Ratio (WHR) is another parameter used to determine obesity and is considered more accurate in comparison to BMT. The WHO STEPwise approach to Surveillance (STEPS) provides a simple standardized protocol for measuring waist and hip circumference,