Prevalence and trends in overweight and obesity in three cross sectional studies of British children, 1974-94

doi:10.1136/bmj.322.7277.24

BMJ 2001;322:24-26 ( 6 January )

Primary care

Prevalence and trends in overweight and obesity in three cross sectional studies of British children, 1974-94

Susan Chinn, reader in medical statistics, Roberto J Rona, professor.

Department of Public Health Sciences, King's College London, London SE1 3QD

Correspondence to: S Chinn sue.chinn{at}kcl.ac.uk

Objectives: To report trends in overweight and obesity,defined by new internationally agreed cut-off points, in childrenin the UnitedKingdom.
Design: Three independent cross sectionalsurveys.
Setting: Primary schools in England andScotland.
Participants: 10 414 boys and 9737 girls in England and5385 boys and 5219 girls in Scotland aged 4 to 11years.
Main outcome measures: Prevalence and change in prevalence of overweightand obesity, as defined by the international obesity task force,in 1974, 1984, and 1994, for each sex andcountry.
Results: Little change was found in the prevalenceof overweight or obesity from 1974 to 1984. From 1984 to 1994overweight increased from 5.4% to 9.0% in English boys (increase3.6%, 95% confidence interval 2.3% to 5.0%) and from 6.4% to 10.0%in Scottish boys (3.6%, 1.9% to 5.4%). Values for girls were 9.3%to 13.5% (4.1%, 2.4% to 5.9%) and 10.4% to 15.8% (5.4%, 3.2% to7.6%), respectively. The prevalence of obesity increased correspondingly,reaching 1.7% (English boys), 2.1% (Scottish boys), 2.6% (Englishgirls), and 3.2% (Scottishgirls).
Conclusion: These results form a base from which trendscan be monitored. The rising trends are likely to be reflectedin increases in adult obesity and associatedmorbidity.

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