Language

• Use 'outside the healthy weight range' or 'unhealthy weight' rather than 'obese'
• Use people-first language

Assessment of weight

• Ideally would measure body fat but use weight as proxy
• BMI corrects body weight for height

Measuring overweight and obesity in children

• BMI healthy range changes with age and is different for boys and girls
• Need to plot BMI against age on centile chart appropriate for gender - can use online BMI healthy weight calculator
• Clinical thresholds
  • ≥ 91st centile - overweight
  • ≥ 98th centile - clinical obesity

Assessment of infants and toddlers

• BMI is the best measure of adiposity from age of 2, when height can be measured accurately
• For children <2 years, use BMI conversion chart to provide an approximate BMI centile

Waist circumference

• No evidence that use of WC offers improved diagnosis of either body fatness or cardiometabolic risk factors in children - should not be used to diagnose overweight and obesity in children

Risk factors for childhood overweight and obesity

Risk factors for being overweight at 3 years

• Parental overweight
• Black ethnicity
• Greater birthweight