22
ISSUES: Fitness & Health
Chapter 2: Understanding obesity
defined as a BMI in the 85th percentile
or higher.
Small gender differences are present
even at age four to five, with 22.6%
of boys being overweight or obese
compared with 21.2% of girls. At age
ten to 11, the gap is wider: 34.9%
of boys are overweight or obese
compared with 31.5% of girls.
For both reception and Year 6
children, above average obesity is
concentrated in parts of London,
Birmingham and the Black Country,
Merseyside, Manchester, and the
North East. Other areas with above
average rates for both age groups
are: Great Yarmouth, Stoke-on-Trent,
Luton, Nottingham and Leicester.
Areas with below average obesity
rates for both ages tend to be in
southern and relatively affluent areas.
Childhood obesity and
deprivation
Children living in deprived areas are
substantially more likely to be obese.
Among reception (age four to five)
children, 5.7% of those in the least
deprived areas are obese compared
with 12.0% of those in the most
deprived areas. In Year 6 (age ten to 11),
11.5% of children in the least deprived
areas are obese, compared with 25.0%
in the most deprived areas. So in
both age groups, children in the most
deprived areas are more than twice as
likely to be obese. These proportions
have changed little since 2010/11.
Children in the most deprived areas
are also marginally more likely to be
underweight than those in the least
deprived areas.
Childhood obesity and
ethnicity
According to data from the NCMP,
children of Black or Black British
ethnicity are most likely to be obese,
while children of Chinese or White
ethnicity are least likely to be obese.
At age four to five (reception), obesity
rates among children of Chinese
ethnicity are almost half those among
children of Black or Black British
ethnicity. Between ages four to five
and ten to 11, obesity rates among all
ethnic groups increase by between
nine (White) and 14 (Asian or Asian
British) percentage points.
GP prescribing for obesity
In England in 2014, pharmacies
dispensed just over half a million
items for treating obesity with a
net ingredient cost of £15.3 million.
All of these prescriptions were for
Orlistat, which prevents the body
from absorbing fat from food. This
was a slight fall on the number of
prescriptions in 2013, but a rise
from 2012 (when there was a stock
shortage of Orlistat). Until 2010,
Sibumatrine
was
prescribed
in
addition to Orlistat, but its marketing
authorisation was suspended in the
light of concerns that it raised the risk
of heart attacks and strokes. Another
drug, Rimonabant, was withdrawn in
2009 for related reasons.
2 February 2016
Ö
The
above
information
is
reprinted with kind permission
from the House of Commons
Library.
Please
visit
www.
parliament.uk
for
further
information.
© Crown copyright 2017
“In England in 2014,
pharmacies dispensed
just over half a million
items for treating obesity
with a net ingredient cost
of £15.3 million”
“For both reception
and Year 6 children,
above average obesity
is concentrated in parts
of London, Birmingham
and the Black Country,
Merseyside, Manchester,
and the North East”
