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4364.0.55.003AustralianHealthSurvey:UpdatedResults,2011
2012
LatestISSUEReleasedat11:30AM(CANBERRATIME)07/06/2013FirstIssue

Contents>>Healthriskfactors>>Overweightandobesity
OVERWEIGHTANDOBESITY

Beingoverweightorobeseincreasesaperson'sriskofdevelopinglongtermhealth
conditionsincludingcardiovasculardisease,highbloodpressureandType2diabetes.Being
underweightcanalsobeahealthriskfactorforsomepeople.BodyMassIndex(BMI)isa
commonmeasurefordefiningwhetherapersonisunderweight,normalweight,overweightor
obese.
Datasourceanddefinitions
IntheAustralianHealthSurvey,measuredheightandweightwerecollectedto
determineaperson'sBMI.ForinformationonhowBMIiscalculatedseeBodyMass
IndexintheGlossary.
BMIwasonlycalculatedforpersonsforwhomheightandweightweremeasured.For
Australiain201112,83.5%ofpersonsaged2yearsandoverhadtheirheightand
weightmeasured.Thiscomprises80.5%ofchildrenaged217whohadtheirheight
andweightmeasured,and84.3%ofpersons18yearsandoverwhohadtheirheight
andweightmeasured.Theresultsbelowarebasedonthismeasuredpopulationonly.
AdultswereclassifiedasbeingoverweightiftheirBMIwasgreaterthan25.00butless
than29.99.AdultswereclassifiedasbeingobeseiftheirBMIwas30.00ormore.
WhiletheformulatocalculateBMIscoreswasthesameforadultsandchildren,the
classificationofchildren'sBMIwasdifferenttothatofpersonsaged18yearsandover,
andtookintoaccountindividualageandsex.BMIcutoffrangesforchildren2to17
yearsofageareincludedinAppendix4ofAustralianHealthSurvey:Users'Guide,
201113(cat.no.4363.0.55.001).

Persons18yearsandover
In201112,62.8%ofAustraliansaged18yearsandoverwereoverweightorobese,
comprisedof35.3%overweightand27.5%obese.Afurther35.5%wereofnormalweight
and1.7%wereunderweight.
TheprevalenceofoverweightandobesityhasincreasedinAustraliaovertime,from56.3%in
1995and61.2%in200708.

Overweightandobesityvarieswithage,with74.9%ofpeopleaged6574yearsbeing
overweightorobese,comparedwith36.4%ofpeopleaged1824years.
In201112,moremenwereoverweightorobesethanwomen(69.7%comparedwith55.7%).
However,lookingatonlythosepersonswhowereobese,ratesarethesameformenand
women(both27.5%).Theproportionofpeoplewhoareobesehasincreasedacrossallage
groupsovertime,upfrom18.7%in1995to27.5%in201112.

Footnote(s):(a)BasedonBodyMassIndexforpersonswhoseheightandweightwas
measured.
Source(s):AustralianHealthSurvey:UpdatedResults,201112
Theincreaseintheproportionofpeoplewhoareoverweightorobeseisbeingdrivenbya
generalincreaseinweightandBMIovertime.Thefollowinggraphcomparesthedistribution
ofBMIscoresforpeopleaged18yearsandoverbetween1995and201112.Thisgraph
showsthatnotonlyisthereagreaterproportionofpeoplewhoareoverweightandobese
since1995,butalsothattherehasbeenanincreaseintheproportionofpeoplewithmuch
higherBMIscores.Forexample,in1995,5.0%ofpersonsaged18yearsandoverhadaBMI
of35andover,whereasin201112thecorrespondingproportionwas9.6%.
Between1995and201112,theaverageadultman'sweightincreasedby3.6kg,whilethe
averageadultwoman'sweightincreasedby4.0kg.

Personsaged18years&overBodyMassIndexscores(a),1995&201112

Footnote(s):(a)BasedonBodyMassIndexforpersonswhoseheightandweightwasmeasured.
Source(s):AustralianHealthSurvey:UpdatedResults,201112

In201112,menlivingininnerregional,outerregionalandremoteareasofAustraliawere
morelikelytobeoverweightorobese(74.4%)comparedwithmenlivinginmajorcities
(67.7%).Thispatternwasalsoconsistentforwomen,withwomenlivingininnerregional,
outerregionalandremoteareasmorelikelytobeoverweightorobese(63.2%)thanwomen
livinginmajorcities(52.5%).

Footnote(s):(a)BasedonBodyMassIndexforpersonswhoseheightandweightwas
measured.
Source(s):AustralianHealthSurvey:UpdatedResults,201112
Lookingatthelevelofdisadvantagebysexshowedthatproportionallymorewomenlivingin
areasofmostdisadvantagewereoverweightorobese(63.8%)comparedwithwomenliving
inareasofleastdisadvantage(47.7%).Interestingly,thispatternwasnotobservedformen,
withsimilaroverweightorobeseratesformenlivinginareasofmostdisadvantage(69.0%)
andthoselivinginareasofleastdisadvantage(68.6%).

Footnote(s):(a)Basedonthe2006IndexofRelativeSocioEconomicDisadvantage.A
lowerIndexofDisadvantagequintile(e.g.thefirstquintile)indicatesanareawithrelatively
greaterdisadvantageandalackofadvantageingeneral.AhigherIndexofDisadvantage
(e.g.thefifthquintile)indicatesanareawitharelativelackofdisadvantageandgreater
advantageingeneral.SeeIndexofRelativeSocioEconomicDisadvantageintheGlossary.
Source(s):AustralianHealthSurvey:UpdatedResults,201112
Childrenaged2to17years
In201112,25.1%ofchildrenaged217yearswereoverweightorobese,comprisedof
18.2%overweightand6.9%obese.
Overweightandobesityratesdifferedonlyslightlyacrosschildren'sagegroups,rangingfrom
22.8%forchildrenaged2to4years,to26.6%forchildrenaged12to15years.
Theproportionofchildrenaged517yearswhowereoverweightorobeseincreasedbetween
1995and200708(20.9%and24.7%,respectively)andthenremainedstableto201112
(25.7%).
Proportionally,thenumberofboyswhowereoverweightorobesewasnotsignificantly
differentfromthenumberofgirls(24.6%comparedwith25.7%).

Footnote(s):(a)BasedonBodyMassIndexforchildrenwhoseheightandweightwas
measured.
Source(s):AustralianHealthSurvey:UpdatedResults,201112
FormoreinformationseeTable5:BodyMassIndex,Table6:Personswhoareoverweightor
obesebyremotenessandIndexofRelativeSocioEconomicDisadvantageandTable7:Body
Massindexbyselectedpopulationcharacteristics.
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