Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Nov 6:15:1101.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-015-2467-x.

Updated prevalence rates of overweight and obesity in 11- to 17-year-old adolescents in Germany. Results from the telephone-based KiGGS Wave 1 after correction for bias in self-reports

Anna-Kristin Brettschneider, Angelika Schaffrath Rosario  1 , Ronny Kuhnert  2 , Steffen Schmidt  3 , Susanna Wiegand  4 , Ute Ellert  5 , Bärbel-Maria Kurth  6
Affiliations

Updated prevalence rates of overweight and obesity in 11- to 17-year-old adolescents in Germany. Results from the telephone-based KiGGS Wave 1 after correction for bias in self-reports

Anna-Kristin Brettschneider et al. BMC Public Health. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Background: The nationwide "German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents" (KiGGS), conducted in 2003-2006, showed an increase in the prevalence rates of overweight and obesity compared to the early 1990s, indicating the need for regularly monitoring. Recently, a follow-up-KiGGS Wave 1 (2009-2012)-was carried out as a telephone-based survey, providing self-reported height and weight. Since self-reports lead to a bias in prevalence rates of weight status, a correction is needed. The aim of the present study is to obtain updated prevalence rates for overweight and obesity for 11- to 17-year olds living in Germany after correction for bias in self-reports.

Methods: In KiGGS Wave 1, self-reported height and weight were collected from 4948 adolescents during a telephone interview. Participants were also asked about their body perception. From a subsample of KiGGS Wave 1 participants, measurements for height and weight were collected in a physical examination. In order to correct prevalence rates derived from self-reports, weight status categories based on self-reported and measured height and weight were used to estimate a correction formula according to an established procedure under consideration of body perception. The correction procedure was applied and corrected rates were estimated.

Results: The corrected prevalence of overweight, including obesity, derived from KiGGS Wave 1, showed that the rate has not further increased compared to the KiGGS baseline survey (18.9 % vs. 18.8 % based on the German reference).

Conclusion: The rates of overweight still remain at a high level. The results of KiGGS Wave 1 emphasise the significance of this health issue and the need for prevention of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Comparison of prevalence rates of obesity and overweight, including obesity, for adolescents aged 11 to 17 years over time with data derived from Kromeyer-Hauschild (1985–99) [18], KiGGS baseline survey (2003–06) and KiGGS Wave 1 (2009–12)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Kurth BM, Kamtsiuris P, Holling H, Schlaud M, Dolle R, Ellert U, Kahl H, Knopf H, Lange M, Mensink GB, et al. The challenge of comprehensively mapping children’s health in a nation-wide health survey: design of the German KiGGS-Study. BMC Public Health. 2008;8:196. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-8-196. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kurth BM, Schaffrath Rosario A. The prevalence of overweight and obese children and adolescents living in Germany. Results of the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS) Bundesgesundheitsblatt Gesundheitsforschung Gesundheitsschutz. 2007;50(5–6):736–43. doi: 10.1007/s00103-007-0235-5. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Wabitsch M, Moss A, Kromeyer-Hauschild K. Unexpected plateauing of childhood obesity rates in developed countries. BMC Med. 2014;12:17. doi: 10.1186/1741-7015-12-17. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lobstein T, Jackson-Leach R, Moodie ML, Hall KD, Gortmaker SL, Swinburn BA, James WP, Wang Y, McPherson K. Child and adolescent obesity: part of a bigger picture. Lancet. 2015;385(9986):2510–20. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61746-3. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bluher S, Meigen C, Gausche R, Keller E, Pfaffle R, Sabin M, Werther G, Odeh R, Kiess W. Age-specific stabilization in obesity prevalence in German children: a cross-sectional study from 1999 to 2008. Int J Pediatr Obes. 2010;6(2-2):e199–206. doi: 10.3109/17477166.2010.526305. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types