Prevalence of overweight and obesity in Aragón and variations according to health determinants

Childhood obesity is a serious global health problem that is continuously increasing worldwide. Many studies suggest that socioeconomic factors are related to the development of obesity. The objective of our study was to analyse the prevalence of overweight and obesity in Aragón, calculated applying the World Health Organization (WHO) growth standards, and to study its association with socioeconomic factors.

We collected data for the entire paediatric population of Aragón aged 2-14 years. We classified each child as normal weight, overweight or obese based on the body mass index. We calculated prevalences by province and basic health care zone. To analyse differences in relation to social inequalities, we used the Aragón deprivation index as an indicator of socioeconomic status.

The final sample consisted of 161 335 children aged 2-14 years, 51% male and 49% female. The overall prevalence of excess weight was 31.1% (17.7% overweight and 13.3% obesity) and was significantly higher in boys. We found a high frequency of under-recording in health records (65%). There was a direct association between the deprivation index and the prevalence of obesity and overweight throughout Aragón, with a significant strong correlation in urban areas, where socioeconomic factors explained up to 66.4% of obesity and 48.9% of body weight excess.

In Aragón, the prevalence of obesity and excess weight is high and associated with low family socioeconomic status.