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 Systems Programme: All NHS Boards in Scotland provide a Child Health Surveillance Programme where children are offered routine reviews at various stages in their life The majority of Boards record these reviews using the Child Health Systems Programme As the systems are implemented in the majority of 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. Links to these reports are available in our local health intelligence section. For a discussion on the strengths and weaknesses of measuring obesity through lifestyle surveys, see Mobasheri M, et al (2004).