Obesity in Scotland: a persistent inequality

International Journal for Equity in Health

Research

Allan Boyd¹  Catherine Bromley²  Gerry McCartney³  Andrew D. Millard³  Elaine Tod³  Phil Mackie⁴ 

[1] NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 1 Smithills Street, PA1 1EB, Paisley, Scotland, UK;Public Health Observatory, NHS Health Scotland, Gyle Square, EH12 9EB, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK;Public Health Observatory, NHS Health Scotland, Meridian Court, 5 Cadogan Street, G2 6QE, Glasgow, Scotland, UK;Scottish Public Health Network, NHS Health Scotland, Meridian Court, 5 Cadogan Street, G2 6QE, Glasgow, Scotland, UK;

关键词: Inequality;    Obesity;    Overweight;    BMI;    Scotland;    Scottish Health Survey;    Adults;    Children;    Weight;    Trends;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12939-017-0599-6

 received in 2017-01-26, accepted in 2017-06-07,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundObesity is a health problem in its own right and a risk factor for other conditions such as cardiovascular disease. The prevalence of overweight and obesity increased in Scotland between 1995 and 2008 with socio-economic inequalities persisting in adults over time and increasing in children. This paper explores changes in the underlying distribution of body mass index (BMI) which is less well understood.MethodsUsing data from the Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) between 1995 and 2014 for adults aged 18–64 years, we calculated population distributions for BMI for the population overall, and for age, sex and deprivation strata. We used SHeS data for children aged 2–15 years between 1998 and 2014, in addition to data from the Child Health Systems Programme (CHSP) collected from primary one (P1) children in participating local authorities, to describe the overall trends and to compare trends in inequalities by deprivation strata.ResultsAmongst adults, the BMI distribution shifted upwards, with a large proportion of the population gaining a small amount of weight between 1995 and 2008 before subsequently stabilising across the distribution. In men the prevalence of obesity showed a linear deprivation gradient in 1995 but over time obesity declined in the least deprived quintile while the remaining four quintiles converged (and stabilised). In contrast, a persistent and generally linear gradient is evident among women for most of the 1995–2014 period.For those aged 2–15 years, obesity increased between 1998 and 2014 for the most deprived 40% of children contrasted with stable trends for the least deprived. The surveillance data for P1 children in Scotland showed a persistent inequality between 2005/06 and 2014/15 though it was less clear if this is widening.ConclusionsThe BMI distribution for adults increased between 1995 and 2008 with a large proportion of the population gaining a small amount of weight before stabilising across the distribution. Inequalities in obesity persist for adults (with different underlying patterns evident for men and women), and may be widening for children. Actions to reduce the obesogenic environment, including structural changes not dependent on individual agency, are urgently needed if the long-term health, social and inequality consequences of obesity are to be reduced.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017