Overweight In Canada Research Articles

Obesity and overweight in Canada: an updated cost‐of‐illness study

This study is to update the estimates of the economic burden of illness because of overweight and obesity in Canada by incorporating the increase in prevalence of overweight and obesity, findings of new related comorbidities and rise in the national healthcare expenditure. The burden was estimated from a societal perspective using the prevalence-based cost-of-illness methodology. Results from a literature review of the risks of 18 related comorbidities were combined with prevalence of overweight and obesity in Canada to estimate the extent to which each comorbidity is attributable to overweight and obesity. The direct costs were extracted from the National Health Expenditure Database and allocated to each comorbidity using weights principally from the Economic Burden of Illness in Canada. The study showed that the total direct costs attributable to overweight and obesity in Canada were $6.0 billion in 2006, with 66% attributable to obesity. This corresponds to 4.1% of the total health expenditures in Canada in 2006. The inclusion of newly identified comorbidities increased the direct cost estimates of obesity by 25%, while the rise in national healthcare expenditure accounted for a 19% increase. Policies to reduce being overweight and obese could potentially save the Canadian healthcare system millions of dollars.

Neighbourhood Socio-economic Status and the Prevalence of Overweight Canadian Children and Youth

The purposes of this study are to determine (i) if neighbourhood socioeconomic status (SES) is systematically related to the prevalence of overweight children and youth in Canada, (ii) if the factors accounting for the apparent relationship have face validity, and (iii) if neighbourhood SES has an independent influence on this distribution.Cross-sectional data from Cycle 4 (2000/2001) of the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth were used. Children and youth aged 5 to 17 were included. Overweight was established using age and sex cut-off points. Neighbourhood socioeconomic data were obtained from the Statistics Canada 2001 Dissemination Area databases and SES quartiles constructed using a composite of socio-economic variables. Hierarchical non-linear modelling was used to test for independent neighbourhood effects.A gradient of increasing overweight prevalence by decreasing neighbourhood SES quartiles was observed (24% high SES, 30% mid-high SES, 33% mid-low SES, 35% low SES). Controlling for individual age, gender, family income and education hierarchical analysis found that a child's odds of being overweight increases if living in a low versus a high SES neighbourhood (OR=1.29, 95% CI=1.14-1.46).The prevalence of child and youth overweight in Canada is inversely and statistically significantly related to neighbourhood SES. Independent effects indicate that neighbourhood characteristics directly influence the odds of being overweight. This research suggests that consideration of opportunity structures that exist in different types of neighbourhoods is fundamentally important to health promotion and disease prevention strategies.

Measured Weights in PEI Adults Reveal Higher Than Expected Obesity Rates

The increasing prevalence of obesity and overweight in Canada is a significant health concern. Unfortunately, we know very little about the actual weight status and associated health risks in our population since most surveys use only self-reported body weights and heights and typically do not include a measure of body fat distribution. This paper summarizes the findings of the Prince Edward Island Nutrition Survey. A random sample of 1,995 adults aged 18-74 were interviewed in their homes and weights, heights and waist circumference measurements were obtained. Relative health risks, population proportions and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals were calculated. Overall, almost one third of PEI adults are obese (BMI > or = 30). This is almost double that reported in the 1995 National Population Health Survey using self-reported heights and weights. More women were classified as being very severely obese (Class III) than men, but for both men and women there appears to be a trend of increased mild obesity with age. Based on BMI and waist circumference, over one third of the population is considered to be at high to extremely high risk for health problems. Self-reported height and weight data appear to result in significant underestimation of the problem of obesity. Given the serious health consequences associated with this condition, it is critical that measured heights and weights be collected in future population-based surveys to ensure that public health interventions are based on accurate prevalence data.