Trends in adolescent overweight and obesity in the Nordic countries

Abstract

The prevalence of adolescent overweight and obesity has been increasing in most parts of the world during the past few decades. However, data from the Nordic countries have so far been scarce. This overview aims to pull together existing information on secular trends in adolescent overweight and obesity in the Nordic countries. In general, the trends over time have been uniform throughout the Nordic countries, with a steady increase in the prevalence of adolescent overweight and obesity, and an increased right-sided skewness of the body mass index distribution. Continuous monitoring of these trends and studies examining the causes of these trends are needed in order to develop sound strategies to prevent obesity. Keywords: Denmark; Finland; Iceland; Norway; obesity; Sweden