Childhood obesity and tackling winter deaths among the elderly

A top health conference taking place on Thursday (31 January, 2002) in Middlesbrough will look at two major problems facing the state of the nation - the increase in childhood obesity in the UK and the huge number of ‘excess deaths’ among the elderly in Britain during the winter months.

The conference at the University of Teesside is the second to be organised by the Postgraduate Institute, based in the University’s School of Health & Social Care. It starts at 9am in the Centuria Building, Victoria Road, Middlesbrough on Thursday 31 January.

Dr James Goodwin, Principal Lecturer in Research in the School of Health & Social Care, leads the opening session at 9.50am on ‘A challenge of Research in Practice: Cutting the Cost of Cold.’

He says: “Every year in the UK during the winter, there are up to 50,000 excess deaths amongst the elderly population. These deaths are not due to hypothermia, as most people assume, but are related to the cold and cause deaths by heart attack, stroke and respiratory illness. These are avoidable deaths and research has revealed that Britain is unusual compared to the rest of Europe, which has colder winters but fewer excess deaths.

“The price we pay for this anomaly - the 'cost of cold' - is severe; not just in deaths but in the non-fatal illnesses of winter and the demands on the NHS are very pronounced. Attacking the problem of indoor cold alone, through measures like the Government's 'Warm Front' scheme, which aims to better heat and insulate the homes of elderly people, is not enough. The problems are outdoors as well as indoors,” says Dr Goodwin.

Dr Goodwin’s research shows that the situation in the UK could be exacerbated by the British habit of taking frequent outdoor trips into the cold, inadequately dressed, and he will offer some possible ways of tackling the ‘appalling’ British record, including research into how our behavior contributes to the problem and how we can improve health promotion messages.

The second major speaker at the conference is Dr Carolyn Summerbell, Reader in Human Nutrition at the Postgraduate Institute. She will address the problem of Childhood Obesity, which is on the increase, in a way which this country has never seen before.

Her session on ‘Slim as a Chip: What can we do to help the kids?’ starts at 3.05pm. Dr Summberbell says: “The number of children who are obese has doubled in the last ten years, and the North East region is in the Premiere League. I will be looking at what can be done to halt this epidemic and will discuss the issues around childhood obesity and what the Government is planning to do about the problem. The talk will focus on the sorts of things schools and communities might do to prevent children from getting fat in the first place, and how well these initiatives work.”

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