The Facts about Obesity

As the BMI of the United States increases every year, obesity is no longer an issue we can avoid. We need to target all segments of the population and make an attempt to teach our future patients about the very real dangers of being obese.

Here are some facts about obesity in the United States:

-          Between 16 and 33 percent of children and adolescents are obese. Source: American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, AACAP Facts for Families #79 (2004).

-          If one parent is obese, there is a 50 percent chance that the children will also be obese. However, when both parents are obese, the children have an 80 percent chance of being obese. Source: American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, AACAP Facts for Families #79 (2004).

-          Obesity more than doubles your chance of developing high blood pressure. Source: National Institutes of Health, Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, (NHANES III).

-          Type 2 diabetes, a condition traditionally associated with middle-aged adults, is beginning to occur several decades earlier as obesity afflicts an ever greater number of children and adolescents in the United States.
Source: Pediatrics. 2002 Nov; 110(5):1003-7. Childhood obesity: a new pandemic of the new millennium. (2002).

-          Overweight and obesity can be a risk factor for diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, gallbladder disease, arthritis, breathing problems, and some forms of cancer.
Source: National Institutes of Health, Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, (NHANES III).

-          Approximately 127 million adults in the U.S. are overweight, 60 million obese, and 9 million severely obese.
Source: American Obesity Association, AOA Fact Sheets: Obesity in Minority Populations (2002).

-          The age group with the highest prevalence of overweight and obesity among men is 65 to 74 years, and among women, 55 to 64 years.
Source: American Obesity Association, AOA Fact Sheets: Obesity in Minority Populations (2002).

-          Approximately 30.3 percent of children (ages 6 to 11) are overweight and 15.3 percent are obese. For adolescents (ages 12 to 19), 30.4 percent are overweight and 15.5 percent are obese.
Source: American Obesity Association, AOA Fact Sheets: Obesity in Minority Populations (2002).

Many of these statistics came from the American Obesity Association web site. It can be found at www.obesity.org. This web site includes fact sheets that can be used when educating patients about obesity.

Statistics above from www.ama-assn.org

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