The Health Minister, Edwina Hart, has accepted the report and its recommendations.
Carried out in 2009, the study was undertaken by the Observatory, part of Public Health Wales, with support from other Welsh organisations including the School of Medicine and School of Human and Health Sciences at Swansea University, which provided research support.
This study was run in 457 Welsh schools to test the feasibility of measuring all children in reception year and year 4 to identify trends in childhood heights and weights.
More than 14,000 children were measured in state schools in seven different local authority areas – Flintshire, Merthyr Tydfil, Pembrokeshire, Powys, the Cynon Valley area of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wrexham and most of the Swansea area.
Interviews were held with parents, pupils and teaching staff following the study to seek their views.
Dr Ciaran Humphreys, Consultant in Health Intelligence for Public Health Wales, said: "At the moment, primary school children in Wales are measured in different ways at different ages using different equipment and it is impossible to get a true picture of growth trends.
"By standardising the way in which we measure children, we can identify and work on problems with childhood growth in Wales.
"The study tested the feasibility of introducing a standardised measuring programme for the whole of Wales, and we are grateful to the schools, pupils and parents involved for their co-operation. We are also particularly grateful for the dedication of the school and community nursing services who were central to the development and running of the feasibility study.
"The report of the study recommends that a national childhood heights and weights measurement programme is introduced in Wales.
"This would then help to inform strategy and service development, to assess the effectiveness of interventions to reduce obesity rates, and to provide the basis for further research into this area."
The study tested the best way of running a national measurement programme by randomly picking some schools to require parents to "opt in" before their children could be measured, and others requiring them to "opt out" if they did not want their children to take part.
Some parents were offered the chance to receive their child’s measurements on request. The cost of the programme was estimated as part of the study.
The key findings were:
- Existing data systems could be adopted to support a national heights and weights measurement programme.
- Data collected was of high quality.
- Uptake of measurements was higher in reception year than in year 4.
- Many parents and children were happy with the process, but it was clear that improvements could be made if establishing a national programme, in particular with regards to communication.
- Parents were generally satisfied with the format of the results they received.
- Children in "opt out" groups were more likely to participate in the study and levels of obesity were higher in this group, suggesting that an "opt in" approach may underestimate the numbers of children who are overweight or obese.
- The study confirmed existing concerns about the prevalence of overweight and obese children, with 22 per cent of children in reception year measuring as overweight or obese. In Year 4, 26.4 per cent of children in the opt-in group and 28.5 per cent in the opt-out group were overweight or obese. The definition of overweight and obese was based on International Obesity Task Force thresholds.
Mrs Hart said: "I am pleased to accept this report. The roll-out of a national programme to measure the height and weight of children will provide accurate and consistent information to inform policies to improve the health of young people.
"I see this as an investment in health promotion and health improvement. Where health professionals have concerns about a child’s weight and height, they will be able to provide advice and support to parents on ways to improve health, such as pointing them to Change4Life or MEND to provide advice on lifestyle and diet.
"Work on developing a national programme will now get under way with the aim of introducing it during the 2010-11 academic year."
Professor Rhys Williams, Dean of Medicine in Swansea University's School of Medicine, added: "It is widely recognised that childhood overweight and obesity are significant public health problems in Wales.
"Members of the School of Medicine and of the Centre for Child Research in the School of Human and Health Sciences contributed to this important piece of work by providing advice in the comparison between "opt-in" and "opt-out" and by collecting and analysing the views of parents, staff and children.
"The study's recommendations will be important for setting policy, monitoring children's weight and, ultimately, evaluating the success or otherwise of interventions to reduce the extent of childhood overweight and obesity."
The full report can be found on the Public Health Wales website here.
The appendices to the report can be found here.
