Childhood overweight and obesity by Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas

To the Editor: Childhood overweight and obesity have become a major public health concern in Australia. Between July 2003 and December 2004, we conducted the Australian National Iodine Nutrition Study (NINS) among schoolchildren.1 While visiting primary schools across Australia, we observed that many children were overweight or obese. The NINS data allowed us to estimate the prevalence of overweight and obesity among 8–10-year-old Australian schoolchildren, and to determine whether the prevalence was associated with socioeconomic background.