Body Mass Index as a measure of obesity

This Q and A style briefing paper provides an overview of the use of body mass index (BMI) for the measurement of obesity. BMI is a person’s weight in kilograms divided by the square of their height in metres. It is one of the most commonly used ways of estimating whether a person is overweight and hence more likely to experience health problems than someone with a healthy weight. It is used to measure population prevalence of overweight and obesity. It is also a relatively easy, cheap and non-invasive method for establishing weight status. However, BMI is only a proxy for body fatness. Factors such as fitness, ethnic origin and puberty can alter the relation between BMI and body fatness and must be taken into consideration. Other measurements such as waist circumference and skin thickness can be collected to indicate a person’s weight status or body fatness. None of these is as widely used as BMI.

The international evidence on the prevention of drug and alcohol use Summary and examples of implementation in England

The United Nations Office of Drug Control (UNODC) published ‘International Standards on Drug Use Prevention’ in 2013. The Standards were developed through a systematic assessment of the international evidence on prevention and they provide a summary of the available scientific evidence. The briefing provides a summary of the UNODC prevention standards and gives corresponding examples of relevant UK guidelines,programmes and interventions currently available in England. Its aim is to help people who commission, develop and implement prevention strategies and interventions to translate the standards into the English operating landscape. It also aims to support local authority commissioners to develop their prevention strategies and implement them in line with evidence.