Page last updated: 18-DEC-2007

Child Health

Childhood Obesity - Key Points

Levels of high and low BMI have been calculated using the 1990 UK Growth Reference.  This is based on UK data collected between 1978 and 1990 and therefore represents children's weight relative to height before the recent rise in levels of obesity in children.  Cut-off points based on these studies use the following definitions:

overweight :children whose BMI is in the top 15% of the reference range for their age and sex
obese :children whose BMI is in the top 5% of the reference range for their age and sex 
severely obese :children whose BMI is in the top 2% of the reference range for their age and sex

A revised programme of child health surveillance has been implemented across Scotland following the recommendations published in the report Health For All Children 4 (Hall4): Guidance on Implementation in Scotland .  Under the revised core surveillance programme, universal reviews at 39-42 months, Primary 7 and Secondary 3 no longer take place.  Consequently the latest available BMI data for children aged around 3.5 years old are for those born in 2001 and the latest available BMI figures for children in Primary 7 and Secondary 3 are for school year 2004/05. 

Pre-school children born 1995 to 2001

  • Among Scottish children born in 2001, 20.7% were overweight by the time they reached 3.5 years of age, including 8.6% who were obese and 4.1% severely obese. The chart below shows that while the percentage of children falling into each category remained relatively stable for children born between 1995 and 2001, it was nonetheless higher in all categories than the 1990 UK reference rates.


PreSchool Chart for Web 2006b 

  • In pre-school children, low BMI levels rose slightly over the 7-year period; 5.9% of children born in 2001 were identified as underweight, compared to 5.5% of children born in 1995. These rates are above the 1990 UK reference rate of 5.0%.

School aged children in school years 2000/01 to 2004/05

  • School aged children have higher levels of obesity compared to pre-school children, and the data shows that the proportion of over weight children increases as children get older. During school year 2004/05, 21.5% of children in P1 were identified as being overweight, including 9.0% obese and 4.3% severely obese.  In P7, 34.1% were identified as being over weight, including 19.4% obese and 11.2% severely obese.  The figures show a small decrease in S3.

  • Trend data show that levels of high BMI in school children, for years 2000/01 to 2004/05, have increased by 1.8 percentage points at P1, 3.8 percentage points at P7 and 2.9 percentage points at S3. The most significant increase is in P7 (10-12 years old) with 34.1% overweight, including 19.4% obese and 11.2% severely obese in 2004/05, compared with 30.4%, 16.6% and 9.2% respectively in 2000/01.

Other findings

  • At all ages the proportion of Scottish children who were estimated to be overweight, obese, and severely obese were higher than the 1990 UK reference standard.

  • Data for low BMI rates shows that this is less of a concern amongst school age children than pre-school children. Between the school years 2000/01 and 2004/05, levels of low BMI amongst school children (P1, P7 and S3) were consistently below the 1990 UK reference level (5.0%) with the highest level in 2000/01 (P7) at 3.6%.

  • Overall there is not much difference between boys and girls. Levels of high BMI amongst girls tend to be slightly lower than for boys until S3 when the pattern is reversed.


 


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