Changes in BMI and prevalence of obesity and overweight in children in Liverpool, 1998-2006.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate changes in mean body mass index (BMI) and prevalence of obesity between 1998 and 2006 in annual cohorts of 9-10-year-old Liverpool schoolchildren.


METHODS
Stature and body mass data collected at the Liverpool SportsLinx project's fitness testing sessions were available on 26,782 (n = 13,637 boys, 13,145 girls) participants. BMI was calculated from these data.


RESULTS
BMI z-score increased over time (p < 0.01) in both boys (z-score range = -0.22-0.14) and girls (z-score range = -0.2-0.16), with all years showing significantly higher BMI values in comparison to the first two years of the project (p < 0.01). There were no significant differences between the most recent three years of data in boys and girls. Prevalence of obesity, and obesity plus overweight increased over time. However a 'levelling off' in prevalence was observed in the most recent three years of data (2003-2006).


CONCLUSIONS
A substantial number of Liverpool schoolchildren are at risk of obesity-related illness and disease. However the most recent three cohorts' data (2003-2006) suggest that the increasing prevalence of obesity may have slowed; a positive step towards meeting the partnership agreement to halt the year-on-year increase in obesity by 2010.
Boddy
Lynne M
LM
Research into Activity and Children's Health Group, Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, UK. l.m.boddy@ljmu.ac.uk
Hackett
Allan F
AF
Stratton
Gareth
G
D017677:Age Distribution; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D018571:Sentinel Surveillance; D017678:Sex Distribution; D006113:United Kingdom