Statistics of Obesity in Adults and Children

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Obesity is becoming a pandemic (a disease that occurs across the globe) and a serious health concern in the United States. This condition is also one of the main reasons for high mortality and morbidity rates for a variety of chronic conditions

A person is considered obese if their BMI exceeds 30 and the waist circumference measurements exceed 35 inches for women and greater than 40 inches for men.

In America, there has been a sustained rise in the rate of obesity in the past 20 years which necessitates immediate action besides raising concern over the future of America’s health. As per data for the year 2010, all states of America have more than 25% adult obesity. Twelve states showed an alarmingly 30% or more adults as being obese, which is not a real good sign of health. This data was collected using the standard procedure of CDC from adult individuals using telephonic interviews. Below is the map that shows the obesity data collected by CDC.

Adult Obesity Graph

More details emerge from the ”F as in Fats: How obesity threatens America’s 2011” report, which segregates the data into two –adult obesity and childhood obesity. This report was prepared by the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). Some of the their findings are discussed below.

Child Obesity

Of all the states in the US, Mississipi seems to hold the highest rate of child obesity, at 34.4 %. The state holds this record for the seventh consecutive year. This is quite alarming as this number is likely to increase. Child obesity rates are lowest in the state of Oregon, which has only 9.6% obesity among children.

Adult Obesity

Adult obesity rate was lowest in the state of Colorado, reaching only 19.8% . Adult obesity again has been found for the seventh consecutive year to be highest in the state of Mississippi with a percentage of 24.9% of adults marked as obese.

Besides obesity related problems, diabetes and blood pressure have also risen considerably. For example

Thirty-two states have rates above 8 percent for diabetes
All 50 states have 20 per cent or more more people facing hypertension issues
Nine states have more than 30% adults living with Hypertension

What is interesting to note here is that people who earn less and have lower standard of living ($15, 000/ per year) have 33% obesity rate, while only 24.6 percent of those earning $50, 000 per year have this condition. This is probably because of their ability to have access to better resources. Having and knowing all these data is not enough, until proper and stringent measures are being taken to curb obesity. Lets hope we can turn this tide.

You can also learn about clinical trials for the treatment of Obesity. These trials offer new or existing treatments at no cost to most participants. Listed below are some Obesity clinical trials