Prevalence of Childhood and Adult Obesity in the United States, 2011–2012

Details

• Alternative Title:
  JAMA
• Personal Author:
  Ogden, Cynthia L. ; Carroll, Margaret D. ; Kit, Brian K. ; Flegal, Katherine M.
• Description:
  IMPORTANCE ; More than one-third of adults and 17% of youth in the United States are obese, although the prevalence remained stable between 2003–2004 and 2009–2010. ; OBJECTIVE ; To provide the most recent national estimates of childhood obesity, analyze trends in childhood obesity between 2003 and 2012, and provide detailed obesity trend analyses among adults. ; DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS ; Weight and height or recumbent length were measured in 9120 participants in the 2011–2012 nationally representative National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. ; MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES ; In infants and toddlers from birth to 2 years, high weight for recumbent length was defined as weight for length at or above the 95th percentile of the sex-specific Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) growth charts. In children and adolescents aged 2 to 19 years, obesity was defined as a body mass index (BMI) at or above the 95th percentile of the sex-specific CDC BMI-for-age growth charts. In adults, obesity was defined as a BMI greater than or equal to 30. Analyses of trends in high weight for recumbent length or obesity prevalence were conducted overall and separately by age across 5 periods (2003–2004, 2005–2006, 2007–2008, 2009–2010, and 2011–2012). ; RESULTS ; In 2011–2012, 8.1% (95% CI, 5.8%–11.1%) of infants and toddlers had high weight for recumbent length, and 16.9% (95% CI, 14.9%–19.2%) of 2- to 19-year-olds and 34.9% (95% CI, 32.0%–37.9%) of adults (age-adjusted) aged 20 years or older were obese. Overall, there was no significant change from 2003–2004 through 2011–2012 in high weight for recumbent length among infants and toddlers, obesity in 2- to 19-year-olds, or obesity in adults. Tests for an interaction between survey period and age found an interaction in children (P = .03) and women (P = .02). There was a significant decrease in obesity among 2- to 5-year-old children (from 13.9% to 8.4%; P = .03) and a significant increase in obesity among women aged 60 years and older (from 31.5% to 38.1%; P = .006). ; CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE ; Overall, there have been no significant changes in obesity prevalence in youth or adults between 2003–2004 and 2011–2012. Obesity prevalence remains high and thus it is important to continue surveillance.
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• Keywords:
  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Body Mass Index
  • Body Weight
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Infant
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• Source:
  JAMA. 311(8):806-814
• Pubmed ID:
  24570244
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC4770258
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  311
• Issue:
  8
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/38265/cdc_38265_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 448.17 KB]
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:414ffaf553035ce1fbb9aaae7b3601e2e6a97a5b083af4be5821dfcc6b72d7e7