HYATTSVILLE, Md.—Over the past two years, there has not been significant change in the prevalence of obesity in the United States, however, obesity continues to be high, with one-third of adults and one in six children and adolescents tipping the scales, according to two papers published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Researchers at the National Center for Health Statistics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) analyzed data from the 2009-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) to determine rates of obesity in the United States. In the analysis for prevalence among adults, rates of obesity (defined as a body mass index [BMI] of 30 or greater) were compared with data from 1999-2008. NHANES includes measured heights and weights for 5,926 adult men and women from a nationally representative sample of the U.S. population in 2009-2010 and for 22,847 men and women in 1999-2008.
In 2009-2010, the age-adjusted average BMI was 28.7 for men and women. The researchers found that overall, the age-adjusted obesity prevalence was 35.7%. Among men, the prevalence was 35.5%, and within race/ethnicity groups, prevalence ranged from 36.2% among non-Hispanic Caucasian men to 38.8% among non-Hispanic black men. There were significant increases in obesity for men over the period 1999-2000 through 2009-2010.
Between 2009 and 2010, 16.9% of children and adolescents were obese, with 31.8% classified as overweight or obese. Males (16.8%) were consistently more likely to be obese than girls (15%). Black children and adolescents (24%) were obese compared with Hispanics (21.2%) and Caucasians (14%).
