Introduction:

Obesity is a direct risk factor for the appearance and development of chronic non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, renal and cardiovascular disease. Overweight and obesity are related among other factors to physical inactivity in the different age groups, which generates a public health problem that requires timely attention, and population prevention and control strategies.

Objectives:

To determine overweight, obesity and the relationship with physical activity in undergraduate nursing students at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia during 2017.

Material and Method:

Descriptive, cross-sectional and analytical study, with a random sample of 198 students, to whom the validated International Physical Activity Questionnaire was applied, previously taking measurements of weight, height and calculating the Body Mass Index (BMI). The statistics used to measure the association were Kendall’s Tau-C and Somers’ D coefficient.

Results:

Of the total sample, 14.1% are obese, 31.7% overweight, and 52.8% are in normal condition. Regarding physical activity, students carry out low and moderate physical activity with 40.8% and 53.5%, respectively. 5.6% of the participants perform high physical activity, having females a higher proportion.

Conclusion:

There is an inverse relationship between physical activity and BMI categories. The higher the BMI value, the lower the level of physical activity in the study population.