Tackling Child Obesity - First Steps

Obesity is a complex public health issue that is a growing threat to children۪s health, as well as a current and future drain on National Health Service (NHS) resources. The Wanless Report stated that public health the promotion of good health and the prevention of disease should be central to the work of the NHS.2 Obesity already costs the NHS directly around 1 billion a year and the UK economy a further 2.3 to 2.6 billion in indirect costs. If this present trend continues, by 2010 the annual cost to the economy could be 3.6 billion a year. This joint report from the Audit Commission, Healthcare Commission and the National Audit Office aims to identify how the barriers to creating a successful delivery chain can be addressed and makes recommendations about how the delivery chain might be strengthened and made more efficient as part of the need for the Departments to contribute to the Government۪s wider efficiency programme.

How to set and monitor goals for prevalence of child obesity: guidance for Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) and local authorities

This guidance follows on from the publication of the Government's obesity strategy Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: A Cross-Government strategy for England. The guidance provides advice to PCTs and local authorities on how to set child obesity goals as part of the Vital Signs and the National Indicator Set. This will be followed shortly with full guidance on developing local plans.

Supporting Healthy Lifestyles: The Natioanl Child Measurement Programme - Guidance for 2006 - 07 school year

The Department of Health is providing a central data store for child obesity data collected by PCTs to be available for live implementation by the end of June 2006. The central data store will be accessible by PCTs via Unify, the DH performance management system.

North West Child Height & Weight Measurement 2007

This analysis of child overweight and obesity data has been produced by the North West Public Health Observatory on behalf of PCTs in the region in order to look at inequalities across deprivation quintiles and to produce Local Authority District measures of child obesity.

Maternal Obesity in the UK: Findings from a national project

In 2008, the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health (CEMACH), now known as the Centre for Maternal and Child Enquiries (CMACE), commenced a 3-year UK-wide Obesity in Pregnancy project. The project was initiated in response to a number of factors. At the time, these included: i) growing evidence that obesity is associated with increased morbidity and mortality for both mother and baby, ii) evidence from the CEMACH 'Saving Mothers' Lives' report showed that women with obesity were over-represented among those who died of direct deaths compared to those who died of indirect deaths, 1 iii) unknown national and regional prevalence rates of maternal obesity, and iv) the need for a national clinical guideline for the care of women with obesity in pregnancy.

Attitudes of the public towards policies to address obesity

Key points Obesity and the related health burden is a growing problem in Ireland. Understanding public attitudes to policy interventions is important, as it provides a key indicator of the potential effectiveness of interventions and the readiness of the general public for policy implementation. The present research aimed to determine public acceptance of a range of policies to address obesity in Ireland. To this end, a survey of attitudes towards obesity-oriented policies among a nationally representative sample of the population of Irish adults was conducted. Strikingly high levels of public support were evident for a wide range of obesity-oriented interventions. The findings support prior research on behaviour change in key policy areas such as diet and smoking which demonstrates that support for interventions tends to decrease as the intrusiveness of interventions increases. Consistent with previous research, socio-demographic factors only explain a small portion (2 - 6%) of the variance in policy support. Overall, the findings indicate substantial public readiness for addressing obesity in Ireland, particularly through child-focused policies, informational measures, subsidies for healthy foods and co-operation between government and the food industry. - See more at: http://www.safefood.eu/Publications/Research-reports/Attitudes-of-the-public-towards-policies-to-addres

Growing up in Ireland. Key findings: 13-year-olds. No. 2. Physical activity and obesity among 13-year-olds.

This Key Finding reports on data from the second wave of interviews with Growing Up in Ireland's Child Cohort. The 8,568 children and their families were first interviewed when the children were 9 years old, and then at age 13 years, when 7,400 were reinterviewed between August 2011 and February 2012.The findings show that boys and young people from more socially advantaged backgrounds were more likely to exercise, and that 13-year-olds who took more exercise (whether hard or light exercise) were less likely to be overweight or obese.While most of the young people in Growing Up in Ireland maintained a healthy weight over time, one in four was either overweight or obese, a finding similar to that at 9 years. Girls were also more likely to be classified as overweight or obese than boys. The majority of 13-year-olds were quite positive about their physical appearance, although a quarter rated themselves as below average in this respect, and girls tended to be less positive about their body image than boys. Dieting behaviours had also become evident at 13.To understand more fully the origins and course of overweight and obesity, the descriptive data in this Key Finding can be used in more complex analyses drawing on the rich data available on the child, family and other important contextual variables.This resource was contributed by the National Documentation Centre on Drug Use.

Using Local Evidence to Motivate New Interventions to Reduce Childhood Obesity

Presentation by Margaret Eames at the Regional meeting on measuring body mass index (BMI) in the child population.

National Child Measurement Programme: Detailed Analysis of the 2006/07 National Dataset

The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) weighs and measures children in Reception (typically aged 4 - 5 years) and (aged 10 - 11 years) annually. The report highlights the usefulness of the NCMP Dataset in furthering our understanding of underweight, overweight and obesity in children, as well as highlighting some areas where improvements can be made in the programme, or where further analysis and investigation is required. The purpose of this report is not to provide specific local results, but an understanding from national-level analysis that can be used to inform local uses and analysis of NCMP data.

The national child measurement programme guidance for PCTs: 2007-08 school year

This guidance has been developed following wide consultation with primary care trusts (PCTs) and schools. It provides advice to PCTs on: arrangements for measuring the height and weight of primary and middle school children as part of the National Child Measurement Programme; and upload of this information to the Information Centre for health and social care (IC). refer to the resource

National Child Measurement Programme Guidance for 2007-08: Summary points

The guidance on the National Child Measurement Programme was published on 26 September 2007. This paper summarises the main points relevant to PCTs, SHAs and PHOs. The department of health website (see link at the end of the briefing) also includes specimen letters that can be customised for local use.

National Child Measurement Programme: detailed analysis of the 2007/08 dataset

The report provides analysis of PCT participation levels and investigates data quality issues in the collection of the 2007/08 NCMP dataset.

National Child Measurement Programme. Detailed Analysis of the 2006/07 Dataset

The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) weighs and measures children in Reception (typically aged 4 - 5 years) and (aged 10 - years) annually. The report highlights the usefulness of the NCMP Dataset in furthering our understanding of underweight, overweight and obesity in children, as well as highlighting some areas where improvements can be made in the programme, or where further analysis and investigation is required. The purpose of this report is not to provide specific local results, but an understanding from national-level analysis that can be used to inform local uses and analysis of NCMP data.

Activ8: A children and obesity project

This project is a 6 x weekly food and activity programme using the local sports centre as a venue. Overweight/obese children, together with a parent / carer and sibling were recruited. A lifestyle pre-course assessment was made with each child, resulting in 5 individual goals. Evaluation was based on attendance; individual goals; post course questionnaire; anthropometric measurements and a food diary. Follow up at 4/52,3/12 and 6/12.

National Child Measurement Programme: Detailed Analysis of the 2006/07 National Dataset

The National Obesity Observatory has produced a new report - National Child Measurement Programme: Detailed Analysis of the 2006/07 National Dataset. The report highlights the usefulness of the NCMP for advancing our understanding of underweight, overweight and obesity in children. The report looks at the effects of socio-demographic and other factors on the reported prevalence of childhood obesity. It also identifies areas where improvements can be made, and where further analysis and investigation are required.