Obesity: key data sources

The Scottish Health Survey includes information on obesity in Scotland. A background to the survey is in our overview of key data sources.

Child Health Programme: Scotland provides a Child Health Programme where children are offered routine reviews at various stages in their life. As the systems are implemented all NHS Boards, data they collect on height and weight measurements can be used to estimate the prevalence of overweight and underweight children in Scotland.

Information on obesity prevalence in local areas is also available from adult health and lifestyle surveys carried out by NHS boards. For a discussion on the strengths and weaknesses of measuring obesity through lifestyle surveys, see Mobasheri M, et al (2004).