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Is overweight and obesity in 9–10-year-old children in Liverpool related to deprivation and/or electoral ward when based on school attended?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2007

Trevor JB Dummer ,
Mark A Gibbon ,
Allan F Hackett ,
Gareth Stratton  and
Sue RTaylor
Trevor JB Dummer
Affiliation:
Liverpool John Moores University, Henry Cotton Campus, Liverpool, UK
Mark A Gibbon
Affiliation:
Liverpool John Moores University, IM Marsh Campus, Barkhill Road, Liverpool L17 6BD, UK
Allan F Hackett*
Affiliation:
Liverpool John Moores University, IM Marsh Campus, Barkhill Road, Liverpool L17 6BD, UK
Gareth Stratton
Affiliation:
Liverpool John Moores University, Henry Cotton Campus, Liverpool, UK
Sue RTaylor
Affiliation:
Liverpool John Moores University, IM Marsh Campus, Barkhill Road, Liverpool L17 6BD, UK
*
*Corresponding author: Email [email protected]
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Abstract

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Objectives

To determine whether weight problems in children (overweight, obesity and overweight or obesity) were related to deprivation indices when attributed only according to electoral ward of the school attended. To determine whether children with weight problems were more likely to be found in some wards rather than others, and to compare the distribution for boys and girls.

Design

Retrospective, cross-sectional, observational study.

Setting

One hundred and six primary schools from all parts of Liverpool city.

Subjects

Five cohorts of 9–10-year-old children between 1998 and 2003.

Main outcome measures

Body mass index (BMI) for each child to estimate proportions overweight, obese and overweight or obese according to international criteria.

Results

Between January 1998 and March 2003, the heights and weights of 7902 boys and 7514 girls were measured and BMI calculated. The prevalence of boys and girls categorised as overweight or obese was very high (1620, 20.6% and 1909, 25.7%, respectively). Prevalence was not related to deprivation and varied between wards only for the girls; some wards had very different prevalence rates for boys and girls (Picton: 59 boys, 23.4%; 106 girls, 36.6%). The most deprived ward did not have a remarkable prevalence of overweight or obesity (Speke: 32 boys, 15.3%; 40 girls, 19.8%).

Conclusions

Obesity is a major problem and requires urgent action but targeting intervention on the basis of administrative areas may be very wasteful. Different factors seem to lead to obesity in boys and girls, and attention should be paid to the role of the physical environment.

Keywords

ObesityChildrenDeprivationMap
Type
Research Article
Information
Public Health Nutrition , Volume 8 , Issue 6 , September 2005 , pp. 636 - 641
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2005

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