Obesity Research & Clinical Practice (2009) 3, 159—168 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Population attributable risk (PAR) of overweight and obesity on chronic diseases: South Australian representative, cross-sectional data, 2004—2006 Eleonora Dal Grande a,* , Tiffany Gill a , Lydia Wyatt a , Catherine R. Chittleborough a , Patrick J. Phillips b , Anne W. Taylor a a Population Research and Outcome Studies Unit, Department of Health, South Australia, Australia b Endocrinology, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Health Service, South Australia, Australia Received 12 December 2008; received in revised form 16 March 2009; accepted 31 March 2009 KEYWORDS Population attributable risk; Overweight; Obesity; Chronic conditions Summary Background: To determine the contribution of overweight and obesity to five chronic conditions using the population attributable risk (PAR) statistic. Method: Self-reported data were collected in Australia using a representative, ongoing monthly risk factor surveillance system using computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) for the period 2004—2006 (n =15,261). The PAR, adjusted for various demographic and health-related risk factors, was used to determine the contribution of overweight and obesity to diabetes, asthma, cardiovascular disease (CVD), arthritis and osteoporosis for people aged 18 years and over. Results: In total, 19.0% of South Australians aged 18 years and over were obese, and 36.0% were overweight. The PAR of overweight and obesity was highest among those with diabetes (17.3% and 28.4%). After adjusting for demographic and risk factors, overweight and obesity had a significantly high PAR for diabetes (11.3% and 23.1%), asthma (4.0% and 10.3%) and arthritis (6.7% and 8.1%). The unadjusted PAR of overweight and obesity for CVD was significant (10.8% and 11.7%) but was reduced when controlled for other factors. The PAR of overweight and obesity was significant for osteoporosis but the association was protective. Abbreviations: AusDiab, The Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle study; BMI, body mass index; CVD, cardiovascular disease; CATI, computer assisted telephone interviewing; CI, confidence interval; EWP, electronic white pages; HBP, high blood pressure; IRSD, index of relative social disadvantage; NHANES, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; PAR, population attributable risk; RR, relative risk; SA, South Australia; SAMSS, South Australian Monitoring and Surveillance System; SEIFA, socio-economic index for areas; SPSS, Statistical Package for Social Sciences; UK, United Kingdom; US, United States of America. E-mail address: Eleonora.dalgrande@health.sa.gov.au (E. Dal Grande). 1871-403X/$ — see front matter. Crown Copyright © 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Asian Oceanian Association for the Study of Obesity. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.orcp.2009.03.004