Original ArticleObesity in Australia
Introduction
Obesity in Australian adults, defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m2 or more, has increased rapidly since 1980, when nationally representative data first became available [1]. There has been international discussion of a potential plateau in trends in the prevalence of overweight and obesity since the year 2000, particularly in children [2]. However, a lack of comparability amongst survey methodology and populations has made it difficult to conclude on the trends in the prevalence of overweight and obesity in Australia.
In Australia, the lack of regular, systematic population health monitoring, including all ages and localities, has impeded our understanding of the development of this major health challenge, beyond the aforementioned basic understanding of overall shifts in prevalence. There is a strong consensus that regular, comprehensive, comparable and accurate monitoring is critical in order to prioritise and allocate obesity prevention and management strategies and to confidently identify changes over time [3].
Here we synthesise the data on the prevalence of overweight and obesity reported from national and state and territory surveys for adults and children. We aim to describe Australia’s obesity landscape as far as possible from these data, including amongst adults, children and the Indigenous population, cross-sectionally and longitudinally. We also aim to identify opportunities for future reporting, and to highlight limitations in the available data.
Section snippets
Inclusion criteria
This study primarily synthesised the publicly reported aggregate data from nationally representative and state-specific Australian surveys with measured height and weight, conducted since 1995. Due to this goal to identify nationally representative and state-specific Australian surveys, we visited all of the key national and state government health and statistics websites to identify potentially relevant surveys. Public websites published before December 2016 were included. Surveys were
Most recent prevalence data
The most recent measured data on overweight and obesity prevalence in Australian adults comes from the 2014/15 National Health Survey (Fig. 1). In 2015, 63.4% of Australian adults were living with overweight or obesity, and just under half of these were living with obesity. Men had a greater prevalence of overweight and obesity than women.
Reporting of the 2014/15 Australian Health Survey data by state/territory indicated small apparent differences in the prevalence of overweight and obesity
Discussion and recommendations
Current, publicly available Australian data indicates that more than one quarter of adults are obese in Australia and the prevalence of overweight and obesity combined is higher among men than women. Amongst children, more than one quarter are overweight or obese, with similar prevalence in girls and boys. The prevalence of overweight and obesity appears to differ by sex, age and state/territory.
The combined prevalence of overweight and obesity appears to have increased amongst both adults and
Conflicts of interest
None.
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These authors contributed equally.