Definition: The percentage of adults aged 18 or older classified as overweight or obese
Rationale for measurement: Reporting on overweight and obesity patterns across the country can monitor progress in promoting and supporting Canadians maintain a healthy body weight and help identify gaps in addressing the continued rise of excess weight in the population.
Measurement timeframe: Years 2015-16 combined
Denominator: Total number of adults aged 18 years and older with valid height and weight responses
Numerator: Number of adults aged 18 years and older with adjusted Body Mass Index (BMI) classified as:
25.00 ≤ BMI ≤ 29.99: overweight
30.00 ≤ BMI: obese
Exclusion criteria:
Individuals with age ≤ 17 were exclude.
Pregnant women aged 18-55 were excluded
Individuals who “don’t know”, “refusal”, “Not stated” to the relevant questions were exclude
Data availability: All provinces and territories
Stratification: By provinces/territories
Data source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Community Health Survey (CANSIM table 105-0509)
Data retrieval date: October 2017
Variables details: Not applicable
Notes from jurisdictions: Not applicable
Methodology notes:
Data were downloaded from CANSIM table for the Canadian Community Health Survey data, which are based on a representative sample and then is extrapolated to the overall population.
Adjusted Body Mass Index (BMI) is adopted by Health Canada and is used to classify body weight for this indicator. This is because a systematic review of the literature concluded that the use of self-reported data among adults underestimates weight and overestimates height, resulting in lower estimates of obesity than those obtained from measured data as a screening tool to identify weight-related health risk.
BMI categories are adopted from a body weight classification system recommended by Health Canada and the World Health Organization (WHO) which has been widely used internationally. The categories are:
BMI<18.5: underweight
18.5 ≤ BMI ≤ 24.99: normal weight
25.00 ≤ BMI ≤ 29.99: overweight
30.00 ≤ BMI: obese
Changes to definition compared to previous years: Not applicable