Background: Obesity has become a major problem in both developed and developing countries worldwide including India. Aim: To assess the prevalence of general and central obesity in a rural A.P population of South India based on newly proposed cut off level for Asian population. Methods: 1538 subjects aged ≥20 years from rural Andhra Pradesh were randomly recruited to participate in a population-based, cross sectional survey, conducted in 2016. Results: The age standardized prevalence of overweight (BMI 23-24.9 kg/m2) and obesity (BMI ≥25 kg/m2) were 15.4% and 38 % respectively. The result shows that prevalence of obesity was more in female (63.6%) than male (36.4%). Based on age distribution in Males, prevalence of obesity was maximum in 45-54 yr group (51.25%) and minimum in 26-34 yr group (8.21%). In Females, maximum45-54 (38%) and minimum in 15-25 (9.4%). Based on BMI out of 1538 subjects, 1037 were normal (67.4%) whereas 237 (15.4%) were overweight, 258 (18.9%) were pre- obese, 38 (2.8%) were obese and 6 (0.44%) were morbid obese. Conclusions: In rural population of Andhra pradesh, the prevalence of both general and central obesity was high among both sexes with the use of newly proposed cut off points for Asian population.
