Obesity by NHS board

The Scottish Health Survey 2003 gives the prevalence of obesity in those aged 16 and over by local NHS Board areas. The sample size is smaller so the estimates are less accurate than for Scotland as a whole, but give some indication of possible variation in the proportion of those obese between geographical areas:

	Men	Women	All adults
Ayrshire and Arran	25.3%	26.6%	25.9%
Borders	23.4%	23.6%	23.5%
Dumfries and Galloway	27.5%	30.0%	28.8%
Fife	20.4%	27.1%	23.8%
Forth Valley	17.2%	32.0%	24.3%
Grampian	20.1%	25.6%	22.8%
Greater Glasgow	21.5%	23.9%	22.8%
Highland	23.3%	27.8%	25.7%
Lanarkshire	25.5%	25.9%	25.7%
Lothian	25.5%	22.3%	23.8%
Orkney, Shetland, Western Isles	[29.4%]	[26.8%]	28.1%
Tayside	16.2%	28.0%	22.4%
Total for Scotland	22.4%	26.0%	24.2%

Source: Scottish Healtlh Survey 2003
[ ] - caution: small numbers
Obesity is defined as a body mass index (BMI) of over 30 (where BMI = weight (Kg)/ [height (m)] squared

Click for chart

These figures suggest that for NHS Boards where there is an adequate sample size,  Forth Valley has the greatest proportion of women who are obese, and Dumfries and Galloway has the greatest proportion of men, and all adults.