Trends in body mass index and prevalence of obesity in Swedish men 1980-89.

STUDY OBJECTIVE

To assess changes in the body mass index (BMI, weight (kg)/height2 (m2) and in the prevalence of obesity in Swedish men during the 1980s.

DESIGN

Data from two successive cross sectional surveys were used.

SETTING

The whole of Sweden.

PARTICIPANTS

Subjects included in the analyses were 7055 men from a 1980-81 survey (response rate 83.4%) and 6081 men from a 1988-89 survey (response rate 79%). Men were aged 16-84 years and were a representative sample of Swedish males.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

The results were based on self reported weight and height obtained during interview. After adjustment for sociodemographic variables, a significant increase in the mean BMI of the entire population of men was found between 1980-81 and 1988-89 (0.23 kg/m2; p < 0.001), with a particularly large increase in the 25-34 year age group (0.45 kg/m2; p < 0.0001) which corresponds to 1.4 kg for a man 180 cm tall). In manual workers this value was 0.25 kg/m2 (p < 0.0005). This increase was also reflected by a significant relative increase in the prevalence of the combination of overweight and obesity (BMI > 25 kg/m2) of about 19% (odds ratio = 1.19, 95% confidence intervals: 1.09, 1.29).

CONCLUSIONS

During the 1980s the mean BMI and the prevalence of overweight and obesity among adult Swedish men increased.