Introduction: Childhood obesity is one of the most important public health challenges of this century. Thus, constant monitoring of obesity trends has become essential. Electronic health records (EHR) can be used as a useful monitoring tool as it provides longitudinal data for a large population and is cost-effective. The aim of this study is to describe the prevalence and incidence of childhood and adolescence overweight and obesity across Catalonia between 2006 and 2016 based on primary care data.
Methods: Data were obtained from The Information System for Research in Primary Care (SIDIAP) for 1.343.372 children aged 0-17, with 9.308.073 valid body mass index (BMI) measurements, registered in 287 primary care practices in Catalonia (representing around 80% of the territory) between 2006 and 2016. Height and weight were measured several times during childhood by health professionals. Overweight and obesity were defined based on BMI and according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Prevalence and incidence of overweight and obesity were calculated for each year and for each child age, stratified by sex and the MEDEA index, an ecological socioeconomic status indicator (SES). The total incidence of obesity (all children who were not obese at baseline) was calculated but also the incidence when children were normoweight or overweight at baseline