Prevalence of overweight and obese children between 1989 and 1998: population based series of cross sectional studies

Abstract Objective: To determine trends in weight, height, and body mass index in children between 1989 and 1998. Design: Retrospective series of cross sectional studies of routinely collected data. Setting: Primary care in the Wirral Health Authority. Participants: 35 662 infants aged 1-3 months (r...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:BMJ 2001-02, Vol.322 (7282), p.326-328
Main Authors: Bundred, Peter, Kitchiner, Denise, Buchan, Iain
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
Anthropometry
Body Height
Body Mass Index
Body Weight
Child growth
Child, Preschool
Children
Cross-Sectional Studies
England - epidemiology
Female
Humans
Infant
Infants
Male
Obesity
Obesity - epidemiology
Overweight
Population growth
Population Surveillance
Population trends
Preschool children
Prevalence
Retrospective Studies
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Summary:Abstract Objective: To determine trends in weight, height, and body mass index in children between 1989 and 1998. Design: Retrospective series of cross sectional studies of routinely collected data. Setting: Primary care in the Wirral Health Authority. Participants: 35 662 infants aged 1-3 months (representing 88% of live births) and 28 768 children aged 2.9-4.0 years. 21 582 infants and children (25.1%) were excluded because of missing or inaccurate data. Main outcome measures: Weight, height, sex, and age routinely recorded by health visitors. Height, weight, and body mass index standardised for age and sex. SD score >1.04 for body mass index (>85th centile) was defined as overweight and >1.64 (>95th centile) as obese. Body mass index was not calculated in infants as it is difficult to interpret. Results: From 1989 to 1998 there was a highly significant increasing trend in the proportion of overweight children (14.7% to 23.6%; P
ISSN:0959-8138
1468-5833
1756-1833
DOI:10.1136/bmj.322.7282.326