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BMI percentile charts generated from Health Survey for England data
Crystallise has analysed detailed data from the Health Survey for England 2012 as part of our mortality modelling work. Here, we publish the BMI percentile charts we have generated from the data.
The Health Survey for England
is an annual survey that monitors the health of the English population, conducted on behalf of the Health and Social Care Information Centre by NatCen Social Research. The survey is used by the Government to plan services and provides high quality data on key risk factors for disease that can be difficult to find from other sources.
Certain risk factors such as obesity and smoking are regularly assessed by the survey, but each annual report includes some topics that are less frequently measured. In 2012, the survey reported data on general mental and physical health, well-being, gambling behaviour and social care needs and provision. In 2013, the topics of interest included eye care, end of life provision, the use of prescription medicines and the prevalence of shift work among the adult population.
The charts below show the BMI percentile charts generated by Crystallise from those representatives of the population who were surveyed in 2012. We used the R programming language to fit the data, with spline smoothing of each percentile band.
The charts show that the mean BMI of men and women aged over 20 years in England was in the overweight category of between 25 and 30 kg/m2, and that more than 25% of adults of both genders aged between 40 and 80 were obese, with a BMI greater than 30 kg/m2. You can find out more about the likely impact of obesity on life expectancy from our previous blog on the topic.
The Health Survey for England
is an annual survey that monitors the health of the English population, conducted on behalf of the Health and Social Care Information Centre by NatCen Social Research. The survey is used by the Government to plan services and provides high quality data on key risk factors for disease that can be difficult to find from other sources.Certain risk factors such as obesity and smoking are regularly assessed by the survey, but each annual report includes some topics that are less frequently measured. In 2012, the survey reported data on general mental and physical health, well-being, gambling behaviour and social care needs and provision. In 2013, the topics of interest included eye care, end of life provision, the use of prescription medicines and the prevalence of shift work among the adult population.
The charts below show the BMI percentile charts generated by Crystallise from those representatives of the population who were surveyed in 2012. We used the R programming language to fit the data, with spline smoothing of each percentile band.
The charts show that the mean BMI of men and women aged over 20 years in England was in the overweight category of between 25 and 30 kg/m2, and that more than 25% of adults of both genders aged between 40 and 80 were obese, with a BMI greater than 30 kg/m2. You can find out more about the likely impact of obesity on life expectancy from our previous blog on the topic.
