Ethnic Differences in Physical Activity and Obesity

Abstract

Obesity has been identified as a risk factor in many health problems, including arthritis, stroke, heart disease, cancer and diabetes. In England around a quarter of all adults are classified as obese and projections estimate this will rise to one-third by 2012. This paper uses the Health Survey for England (HSE) to examine ethnic differences in diet, physical activity and obesity in adults. It begins by providing a detailed break-down of differences in levels of obesity and physical activity for men and women in eight major ethnic groups for a nationally representative sample of the adult population of England. It then goes on to use modelling methods to ask whether additional factors related to the individual or the locality explain the differences between ethnic groups on both these outcome measures.