Prevalence of overweight and obesity from 5 to 19 years of age in Gothenburg, Sweden

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study was to present prevalence data for overweight and obesity across school age in a large, recent, population-based cohort of children in Gothenburg, Sweden. Methods: We included 66,807 children (48.5% girls) aged 5–18.9 years who had their height and weight measured in school health care 2015–2018. The BMI values were categorised according to the age-dependent cut-offs for overweight and obesity from the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF). Results: Overall, the prevalence of overweight and obesity for girls and boys was 18.1% and 18.0%, respectively. We observed increasing proportions of overweight (girls 11.5–17.1% and boys 8.4–17.4%) and obesity (girls 3.0–4.2% and boys 2.7–6.1%) with increasing age (p < 0.001 for trend in both sexes). Moreover, girls had higher prevalence of overweight during ages 5.0 to 8.9 years compared with boys (p < 0.001), while boys had higher prevalence of obesity 15.0–18.9 years compared with girls (p < 0.001). Conclusion: In conclusion, we demonstrate increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity across the entire school age range, as well as differences in prevalences between boys and girls, in a population-based sample of 67,000 children in Gothenburg city, Sweden. Continuous monitoring of schoolchildren, together with effective preventive measures, is crucial to curb the obesity epidemic and its consequences.