Background: Obesity confers a significant threat on the cardio-metabolic health of individuals. Obesity is measured in terms of general obesity and central obesity. People generally have acquaintance with the term ‘Body Mass Index’ or BMI and are, therefore, more aware of maintaining their normal BMI. Nevertheless, they put little emphasis on the concept of ‘central obesity’. This has triggered a health risk as several studies have found that people with normal BMI can be centrally obese. This recommends an assessment of central obesity among individuals with normal BMI. As a consequence, a concept called ‘normal weight central obesity’ (NWCO) was developed.

Methods: The present study was conducted among 300 adult Rajbanshi males aged between 21-30 years residing under Siliguri sub-division of Darjeeling district, West Bengal, India. Anthropometric measurements such as height, weight, waist circumference (WC) and hip circumference were taken. Prevalence of generalised obesity (in terms of BMI), central obesity [in terms of WC, waist-hip ratio (WHR), waist-height ratio (WHtR) and conicity index (CI)] and NWCO were evaluated.

Results: Based on BMI cut-offs for Asian population, the sample consisted of 1% underweight, 35.6% normal, 35.34% overweight, 23.6% obese and 4.3% very obese subjects. Prevalence of centrally obese subjects were 25%, 61%, 65% and 43% based on WC, WHR, WHtR and CI respectively. The studied sample size exhibited 10.28%, 45.79%, 41.12% and 46.72% of NWCO (where central obesity was measured in terms of WC, WHR, WHtR and CI respectively).

Conclusion: The present study exhibited moderate prevalence of NWCO. Assessment of central obesity in addition to BMI must be encouraged in all clinical settings.