Stable prevalence of obesity in Swedish schoolchildren from 2008 to 2013 but widening socio-economic gap in girls

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study was to follow the 5-year prevalence of overweight, obesity and thinness in 7- to 9-year-old children in West Sweden and to investigate whether trends differed according to gender and socio-economic status. Methods: Cross-sectional anthropometric measurements of three cohorts in grades one and two were performed in 3492 7- to 9-year-old children in 2008, 2010 and 2013. For body mass index classification, the IOTF/Cole and WHO 2007 references were used. Percentage of inhabitants with high education in the school area was used for socioeconomic classification. Results: Between 2008, 2010 and 2013, the overall time-trends in overweight 17.7%, 19.3% and 18.8%, obesity 3.2%, 3.3% and 3.1%, and thinness 6.5%, 4.7% and 6.9%, respectively, were fairly stable using the IOTF/Cole references. Thinness defined by the Cole reference increased in girls. The socio-economic gradient for overweight and obesity was clear by both references, but using the IOTF reference, the gap increased for obesity among girls (p = 0.024). No significant trends were observed with the WHO reference. Conclusion: The overall prevalence of overweight and obesity was stable over 5 years, but we detected growing inequality in obesity and increasing prevalence of thinness in girls. With these regionally representative data, we can draw conclusions about West Sweden, despite an absence of continued national surveillance.