Prevalence

Obesity in childhood is not a new problem. It is the extent to which it is occurring which is new and disturbing because of the long-term implications of overweight for later health (Haslam and James 2005). For many years the prevalence of obesity in children in the UK remained fairly static. Since the mid 1980s prevalence has increased virtually every time it is surveyed. For some years the changing situation was difficult to assess and confirm since there were differences in the methods for assessing obesity in childhood in different surveys. Those differences have now been largely resolved (see Chapter 2) but prevalences continue to rise. Table 1.1 shows the changing prevalence of overweight/obesity in English and Scottish children over recent years. Different surveys involve different populations (England and Wales, UK or smaller geographical area; age range) so absolute figures vary, even for studies in the same year, but the trends remain the same. Figure 1.1 indicates how the prevalences of overweight and obesity in girls and boys have changed over the ten years from 1995 to 2004. There are not only more overweight children but those that are overweight seem more overweight with obese children actually outnumbering those only overweight. The prognosis is grim with suggestions of increases of around 300,000 further obese children by 2010 bringing the total to more than 1.7 million (Zaninotto et al. 2006).