Ethnic differences in obesity and overweight among British children

1
Ethnic differences in obesity and overweight
among British children
Dr Sonia Saxena, Dr Gareth Ambler, Professor
Tim J Cole, Professor Azeem Majeed Dept. of
Primary Care Social Medicine, Imperial College
London, Dept of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Institute of Child Health, University College
London Hospital NHS Trust
Aims To determine the proportion of children
and young adults who are obese or overweight
within different ethnic and socio-economic
groups. a
Design Secondary analysis of cross-sectional
survey data from the 1999 Health Survey for
England
Results 23 of children (n1311) were
overweight of whom 6 (n358) were obese. More
girls than boys were overweight (24 vs. 22
respectively P0.03). Afro-Caribbean girls were
more likely to be overweight (odds ratio 1.73,
95 confidence interval 1.29 to 2.33) and
Afro-Caribbean and Pakistani girls were more
likely to be obese than girls in the general
population (ORs 2.74, 1.74 to 4.31 and 1.71, 1.06
to 2.76 respectively). c Indian and Pakistani
boys were more likely to be overweight (ORs 1.55,
1.12 to 2.17 and 1.36, 1.01 to 1.83
respectively). c There were no significant
differences in the prevalence of obese and
overweight children from different social classes.
Subjects 5689 children and young adults aged 2
to 20 years living in private households in
England b
Main outcome measures Prevalence of overweight
and obese girls and boys based on age and sex
specific BMI cut off points, as defined by the
International Obesity Task Force b

• Key messages and further work
• Ethnicity is a strong determinant of obesity in
  children
• British Afro-Caribbean Pakistani girls are more
  likely to be obese and Indian Pakistani
  boys more likely to be overweight than the
  general population
• Social class differences are not directly
  associated with obesity in British children
• Future studies should address the possible
  mechanisms for the association between ethnicity
  and obesity, for example differences in dietary
  and exercise patterns

a Social class of head of household III, IIIn,
IIIm, IVV. Ethnicity assigned by head of
household using Census 91 categories. See
www.doh.gov.uk/HSE_99 b Establishing a standard
definition for child overweight and obesity
world-wide international survey. Cole TJ,
Bellizzi MC, Flegal KM, Dietz WH. BMJ 2000
320(7244)1240. c adjusted for age and social
class