Volume 187 - Issue 5
Overweight and obesity from childhood to adulthood: a follow-up of participants in the 1985 Australian Schools Health and Fitness Survey
Authors: Alison J Venn, Russell J Thomson, Michael D Schmidt, Verity J Cleland, Beverley A Curry, Hanni C Gennat and Terence Dwyer
Med J Aust 2007; 187 (5): 314-315. || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2007.tb01254.x
Published online: 3 September 2007
Published online: 3 September 2007
In reply: Allman-Farinelli et al make an important point about the influence of age, survey period and cohort effects on the prevalence of overweight and obesity. While age and cohort effects could not be clearly separated in the 1985 Australian Schools Health and Fitness Survey, the prevalence of overweight and obesity increased with age in 7–15-year-olds.1 Our data collected from 4571 of the individuals in that survey at follow-up about 20 years later also showed an increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity with age, although these findings were not presented in our report.2
In the Box, we show the distribution of body mass index (BMI) values for men and women in three age groups (24–27 years, 28–30 years and 31–34 years). Mean BMI values across the age groups were 25.2 kg/m2, 25.6 kg/m2, and 26.5 kg/m2 in men and 23.5 kg/m2, 24.2 kg/m2, and 24.6 kg/m2 in women. The prevalence of obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) increased with increasing age as follows:
References
- Magarey AM, Daniels LA, Boulton TJ. Prevalence of overweight and obesity in Australian children and adolescents: reassessment of 1985 and 1995 data against new standard international definitions. Med J Aust 2001; 174: 561-564. 0_BABCDAJG
- Venn AJ, Thomson RJ, Schmidt MD, et al. Overweight and obesity from childhood to adulthood: a follow-up of participants in the 1985 Australian Schools Health and Fitness Survey. Med J Aust 2007; 186: 458-460. 0_BABGJCII