joint strategic needs assessment foundation profile - JSNA

Interative Hull Atlas: www.hullpublichealth.org/Pages/hull_atlas.htm More information: www.jsnaonline.org and www.hullpublichealth.org
There is little consensus on the “best” definition of childhood obesity in terms of BMI
owing to the marked changes of BMI profile in populations of children across time and
countries as well as over age. However, BMI remains the measure of choice in
assessing obesity in children. Approximations to the definitions of overweight and obese
children used by the Department of Health to produce Local Delivery Plan (LDP) target
figures for the childhood obesity indicator PSA10a will be used throughout this report
(MH Treasury 2004). This means the figures presented here may differ slightly from
those for Hull quoted in forthcoming reports from the NHS Information Centre and Public
Health Observatories. Children are defined as obese if their BMI is above the 95 th centile
of the reference curve for their age and sex according to the UK BMI centile
classification (Cole, Freeman et al. 1995). Similarly children are classified as overweight
if their BMI is above the 85 th centile. Since expected BMI measurements vary over the
ages 4½ years to 6 years, and 10 to 12 years, BMI thresholds for weight categories
were defined at 6 monthly intervals and used to classify underweight, desirable weight,
overweight and obese. Further details are given in section 13.4.1 on page 805.
8.5.3 Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity in Adults
The Health Survey for England (Health Survey for England, 2008) collects information
on obesity in the form of BMI which is calculated from measured height and measured
weight from those aged 16+ years. The local Health and Lifestyle Survey (see section
13.2.1.2 on page 791 for more information on survey) also collected height and weight,
but it was self-reported and collected on those aged 18+ years. An adjustment was
made to height and weight prior to calculating BMI to attempt to compensate for the fact
that people tend to over-estimate their height and under-estimate their weight (see
section 13.4.1.1 on page 805 for more information about the adjustment). The
percentages of people who are defined as overweight, obese or morbidly obese for the
Health Survey for England and the local survey are given in Figure 90 for men and in
Figure 91 for women. The underlying data are given in the APPENDIX on page 862. It
can be seen that for both men and women, the prevalence of overweight and obesity is
similar for England and Hull. The largest differences appears to occur for men aged
less than 25 years, where the prevalence of overweight and obesity combined is 33%
for England compared to 44% for Hull. There are 285 men aged 18-24 in the local
survey so the numbers are not particularly small, therefore, it is not easy to know
whether this is a true reflection in Hull or a slightly biased sample of men in terms of
their obesity. However, the prevalence of obesity is similar for the youngest men.
Further information on the prevalence of obesity at ward level without taking into
account age or gender, is given in the 76 page Public Health Profiles for Hull as well as
in the Hull Atlas (www.hullpublichealth.org). A report specifically on Obesity and
Exercise from the 2007 Health and Lifestyle Survey also examines factors which
influence the prevalence of obesity such as general health, measures of deprivation and
other risk factors such as alcohol consumption, etc. These reports as well as the 2009
Prevalence Survey report can be found at www.hullpublichealth.org.
Joint Strategic Needs Assessment Foundation Profile – Hull Health Profile: Release 3. March 2011. 274