Overweight statistics

Prevalence of overweight among children and adolescents United States, 1999-2002. National Center for Health Statistics, December 2004 available at www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/ p ubd/hestats/obese/obse99. 

American Obesity Association (2006). Updated statistics on overweight and obesity in the U.S. 

Vital and Health Statistics of the National Center for Health Statistics. 1979. Overweight adults in the United States. Advance data. DHEW Pub. No. 79-1250. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Washington, D.C. 

The prevalence of overweight (BMI 25-29) and obesity (BMI 30 or more) was determined in 89 euthyroid bipolar patients and 445 reference subjects. The rate of obesity in patients taking only lithium was 1.5 times greater than in the reference population (a nonsignificant difference), compared with a statistically significant 2.5 times greater rate associated with antipsychotic drugs (693). 

Statistics Related to Overweight and Obesity." Weight-control Information Network (WIN), a service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), May 2007. Available online. URL http // win.niddk.nih.gov/statistics/index.htm preval. Accessed August 28, 2007. 

In a study at the University of North Carolina involving about nine thousand men and women over a period of 11.6 years, the rate of cardiovascular disease increased significantly as blood pressure levels increased. Compared with patients who had optimal blood pressure levels, those with high-normal measurements had two and a half times the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. That statistic took into consideration other factors involved in the disease. Most of the risk was in the form of a stroke. The risk was greatest for African Americans, diabetics, overweight and obese individuals, and people with high levels of LDL cholesterol. 

The statistical links between weight and cardiovascular disease are flat-out scary. One of the most definitive studies began in 1967. Data were collected until 2002. During those years, subjects were classified as normal weight, overweight, or obese. The risk of being hospitalized for heart problems quadrupled in men and women after age sixty-five in the obese group. Obese individuals were also more likely to die from heart attacks and strokes than thinner persons were. 

Data obtained from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for the 2003-2004 period indicated that 66% of adults in the United States were overweight (7). The prevalence of overweight and obesity had doubled for both adults and children, when compared with a previous survey for the 1976-1980 period. According to 2005 statistics from the WHO, approximately 1.6 billion adults were overweight, and at least 400 million adults were obese (3) that half of all diabetes cases would be eliminated if weight gain could be prevented. WHO projects that by 2015, approximately 2.3 billion adults will be overweight, and more than 700 million adults will be obese. 

There are several causes of adiposity. In animal experiments and in humans, genetic defects have recently been demonstrated to influence appetite control and adipogenesis. Such inherited dysregulations are however rather rare. Statistical investigations show that psychological, socio-economic and cultural factors contribute to adipogenesis. American studies document that individuals with poor education and low income are more prone to become overweight. 

In a prospective study, fasting serum and anthropometric measures were obtained from 45 patients with first-episode psychosis and 41 healthy adults of similar age, ethnicity, and sex [32 f. At baseline, the distributions of cardiovascular risk markers were similar and the percentages of young patients with first-episode psychosis and healthy controls who were overweight/obese, dyslipidemic, hyperglycemic, and hyperinsulinemic did not differ. At 24 weeks, compared with baseline, 16 of the patients with psychosis who continued to take the same antipsychotic medication had statistically significant increases in BMl, glucose, insulin, cholesterol, leptin, and E-selectin, and a reduction in adiponectin. 

DISORDERS WHICH ARE OFTEN AGGRAVATED BY OBESITY. Statistics from the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company show that obese people (those who are more than 20% overweight) have significantly higher death rates than the nonobese from such conditions as appendicitis, cancers of the gallbladder and liver, cirrhosis of the liver, diabetes, gallstones, heart disease, hernia and intestinal obstruction, kidney disease, stroke, and toxemia of pregnancy. 

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