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Obesity Discussion · 02-13-06, 08:30 PM

Recent official publications (Department of Health 2004; House of Commons Select Committee 2004) have highlighted obesity as one of the biggest threats to public health. The prevalence of obesity in children is widely believed to be rising rapidly (Chief Medical Officer 2003), though the scale of the problem may have been overestimated (Social Issues Research Centre 2005). An obese child is likely to grow into an obese adult, and adult obesity reduces life expectancy by 9 years (National Audit Office 2001) mainly due to cardiovascular disease and the complications of diabetes. Paediatricians in the UK have started to see cases of obesity-related metabolic syndromes such as insulin resistance, hypertriglyceridaemia and type 2 diabetes in early adolescence (Pontiroli 2004).

The UK government has therefore set a target for health and local authorities to 'halt, by 2010, the year on year increase in the prevalence of obesity in children under 11' (Department of Health 2004).

However, there are no data on the prevalence of childhood obesity at a local level. The Office for National Statistics produces country estimates, but they are not helpful in deciding where to direct public health action or to judge local progress towards the target.

Birmingham City Council's Scrutiny Committee on children's nutrition and obesity (Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee 2004) stated their belief that, '… it is vital that local data on childhood obesity prevalence is collected and analysed, both to monitor the size of the problem and also to estimate the impact of actions to reduce obesity on population health'.

In order to address this need, we decided to estimate the population prevalence of obesity in children aged 9–10 years by trying out a simple low-cost method that harnessed the enthusiasm and capabilities of schools in our area. In doing so, we believe that we have hit upon a method that can be rolled out to all schools.

Aims and objectives

The aims and objectives of the project were:

• to gather baseline data on the body mass index (BMI) in a sample of year 5 (aged 9–10) school children;

• to develop and try out a simple low-cost method of obtaining data on childhood obesity;

• to determine whether schools would find the method acceptable and easy to use regularly.

02-13-06, 08:30 PM	#3 (permalink)
Obesity Discussion Administrator Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 7,799 Weight Statistics 8/1/2006 Start Date: 185 lb Start Weight: 152 lb Current Weight: 155 lb Goal Weight: -33 lb Weight Loss: 5/1/2007 Goal Date:	Re: blah Recent official publications (Department of Health 2004; House of Commons Select Committee 2004) have highlighted obesity as one of the biggest threats to public health. The prevalence of obesity in children is widely believed to be rising rapidly (Chief Medical Officer 2003), though the scale of the problem may have been overestimated (Social Issues Research Centre 2005). An obese child is likely to grow into an obese adult, and adult obesity reduces life expectancy by 9 years (National Audit Office 2001) mainly due to cardiovascular disease and the complications of diabetes. Paediatricians in the UK have started to see cases of obesity-related metabolic syndromes such as insulin resistance, hypertriglyceridaemia and type 2 diabetes in early adolescence (Pontiroli 2004). The UK government has therefore set a target for health and local authorities to 'halt, by 2010, the year on year increase in the prevalence of obesity in children under 11' (Department of Health 2004). However, there are no data on the prevalence of childhood obesity at a local level. The Office for National Statistics produces country estimates, but they are not helpful in deciding where to direct public health action or to judge local progress towards the target. Birmingham City Council's Scrutiny Committee on children's nutrition and obesity (Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee 2004) stated their belief that, '… it is vital that local data on childhood obesity prevalence is collected and analysed, both to monitor the size of the problem and also to estimate the impact of actions to reduce obesity on population health'. In order to address this need, we decided to estimate the population prevalence of obesity in children aged 9–10 years by trying out a simple low-cost method that harnessed the enthusiasm and capabilities of schools in our area. In doing so, we believe that we have hit upon a method that can be rolled out to all schools. Aims and objectives The aims and objectives of the project were: • to gather baseline data on the body mass index (BMI) in a sample of year 5 (aged 9–10) school children; • to develop and try out a simple low-cost method of obtaining data on childhood obesity; • to determine whether schools would find the method acceptable and easy to use regularly. __________________