joint strategic needs assessment foundation profile - JSNA

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8.5 Overweight and Obesity
8.5.1 Obesity as a Risk Factor
There is an increase risk of premature mortality and morbidity with obesity. According to
the NHS (NHS Choices 2007), “Obesity causes 9,000 premature deaths in England
every year, and on average reduces life expectancy by a whopping nine years. It is also
linked to serious health problems including type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancers
of the breast, colon and prostate. Obesity-related health problems cost the NHS around
£1bn a year.” Obesity also increases the risk of degenerative joint disease which
impacts greatly on mobility and therefore morbidity.
Nationally the relatively high and increasing prevalence of obese and overweight
children is very concerning as obesity is a strong risk factor in adulthood for many
diseases and medical conditions, including heart disease and diabetes. This is why the
government has set a national target to “halt the increase in obesity among children
under the age of 11 by 2010” (MH Treasury 2004); however the goalposts have now
been moved 10 years further into the future, when in October 2007 the government
announced a revised target which stated “by 2020, we aim to reduce the proportion of
overweight and obese children to 2000 levels” (Cavendish 2008). Classifying children
as obese is more an indicator of possible future problems for an individual, should their
BMI continue to be greater than most of their peers. Not all overweight or obese five
year olds will be overweight or obese when they are older children or adults; however
the purpose of the epidemiological analysis below is to examine the situation and recent
trends for Hull as a whole, rather than to assess the health of individuals.
8.5.2 Definition of Overweight and Obesity
Definitions of underweight, desirable weight, overweight and obesity are defined on the
basis of the body mass index (BMI) which is a measure of the weight to height ratio. It is
calculated by taking the weight (in kilograms) and dividing it by the square of height (in
metres). In adults, the cut-off values for BMI vary for defining underweight and desirable
weight, with some defining underweight as having a BMI of less than 18.5 whereas
others define underweight as having a BMI of less than 20. For the purposes of the
analysis below the local data uses underweight defined as having a BMI of less than 20.
In practice, differences in the definitions of underweight are not of particular concern
within this report as the focus is on presenting information on overweight and obesity
rather than underweight. Desirable weight is defined as having a BMI more than (18.5
or) 20 but less than 25, overweight as having a BMI of 25 or more but less than 30, and
obesity is defined as having a BMI of 30 or more. Within this latter category, morbidly
obese is defined as having a BMI of 40 or more. It is well-recognised that people tend to
over-estimate their true height and under-estimate their true weight when it is selfreported
rather than measured. To attempt to compensate for this, height and weight
from the local Health and Lifestyle Surveys were adjusted prior to calculating the BMI
(see section 13.4.1.1 on page 805 for more information).
Joint Strategic Needs Assessment Foundation Profile – Hull Health Profile: Release 3. March 2011. 273