Background: Rural areas, around Mysore urban agglomeration are influenced by urbanization and are in a phase of socioeconomic and epidemiological transition. Obesity has been one of the major risk factor for diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. It is necessary to conduct epidemiological studies to know the burden and determinants of obesity, which helps in planning and implementation of any interventions and allocation of resources. Objectives: i) To estimate the prevalence of overweight and obesity among adults in a rural area of Mysore district. ii) To identify the factors associated with overweight and obesity. Materials and methods: 1423 individuals aged above 18 years were interviewed to collect information about their socio-demographic characteristics, risk profile and measurements of height and weight. Prevalence rate and chi square analysis for each factor was performed. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the independent factors associated with overweight and obesity. Results: The overall prevalence of overweight and obesity was 13.2% (189) and 11.5% (164) respectively. Multivariate logistic regression model showed that 45-54 age group (OR 2.30, 95% CI 1.23- .30), professional adults (OR 3.12, 95% CI 1.36-7.14), class I socio-economic class (OR 2.30, 95% CI 1.03-5.130), increased oil intake (OR 1.50, 95% CI 1.03-2.17), sedentary physical activity (OR 1.84, 95% CI 1.13) as independent risk factors for overweight and obesity among the rural population of Mysore. Conclusions: Rural population of Mysore with high socio- economic status have high BMI status similar to their urban counterparts.

 Keywords: Obesity; Rural; Prevalence; Multivariate analysis; Mysore.