Paper short abstract:

Affluent girls are taller and heavier; possess higher values of girths and diameters along with thicker skinfold, have significantly higher BMI, fat to muscle ratio, higher body fat percentage, are overweight or obese and prehypertensive or hypertensive than their poorer counterparts.

Paper long abstract:

To find out the difference between growth performance and obesity prevalence in 10-16 year old urban girls of different socioeconomic status, 1049 girls studying in government and private schools of Ludhiana (Punjab) were anthropometrically studied in mid 2007 for gross body measurements, circumferences and skinfold along with blood pressure. According to this study, affluent girls (private school girls) are taller and heavier; possess higher values of girths and diameters along with thicker skinfold, have significantly higher BMI, fat to muscle ratio, higher body fat percentage and prehypertensive or hypertensive than their poorer counterparts. According to NCHS criteria, prevalence of overweight and obesity was found to be 26.84% and 9.33% in rich girls and 5.42% and 1.68% in relatively poorer girls. This study also found the positive relationship between body fat and hypertension and a positive correlation was found between parental and childrens' BMI.