Prevalence of overweight and obesity in Italy (2001-2008): is there a rising obesity epidemic?
OBJECTIVE
To provide national, population-based estimates of the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the Italian population.


METHODS
Prevalence estimates of overweight and obesity were calculated in seven waves (2001-2008) of the cross-sectional Multipurpose Household Survey organized by the Italian National Institute of Statistics, which are representative of the general adult Italian population. Sampling weights were used to estimate prevalence figures as well as their standard errors. Mean-difference plot was used to evaluate changes in the distribution of body mass index across sex and age categories.


RESULTS
Almost half of Italian men and about 1 of 3 Italian women are overweight or obese. Between 2001 and 2008 the age-standardized prevalence of overweight (obesity) increased 1.4% (1.9%) in men and 0.4% (0.5%) in women. Mean-difference plots showed an upward shift for body mass index distribution with an increasing skewness.


CONCLUSIONS
The obesity epidemic is one of the major issues in United States and other developed countries. However, if for "epidemic" we mean that in Italy obesity is steadily increasing, then our data give little support to this interpretation. In fact, trends observed between 1983 and 2008 suggest that the rates of changes in the prevalence of overweight and/or obesity are not increasing.
Micciolo
Rocco
R
Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Trento, Via Verdi 26, Trento, Italy. rocco.micciolo@unitn.it
Di Francesco
Vincenzo
V
Fantin
Francesco
F
Canal
Luisa
L
Harris
Tamara B
TB
Bosello
Ottavio
O
Zamboni
Mauro
M
D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015995:Prevalence; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult