Childhood Overweight and Obesity: An Epidemic of Modern Times

Childhood Overweight and Obesity Fact Sheet

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FACT SHEET

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The news on the epidemic of overweight and obesity in the U.S. and in Ohio is not good. Being overweight is a serious threat to health and quality of life. Here are some facts about childhood overweight and ideas about what we can do:

Overweight in children is defined differently than for adults

Rates of overweight in children are increasing: the obesity epidemic has reached children

• The percent of school-age children who are overweight has tripled in the last 30 years, rising from about 5% in the 1960's to over 15% in the early 2000's.
• The percent of overweight adolescents tripled in just 20 years, to 15.5%.
• Over 10% of preschoolers are overweight. While we do not have data for all Ohio children, we know that about 11% of children age 2-5 years enrolled in the Women, Infants and Children's Supplemental Nutrition (WIC) Program are overweight, compared with about 14% of the same population nationally (2002).

Some groups of children are more likely to be overweight than others

• Over 25% of African American teens and adolescents of Mexican descent are overweight.
• Low income adolescents, those whose families are below 130% of the poverty level, are twice as likely to be overweight as those who come from families above that level.

Childhood overweight has serious effects on health and well-being

• Overweight children have increased incidence of physical conditions, including hypertension, coronary artery disease, sleep apnea, orthopedic problems and type 2 diabetes.
• The psychological complications include low self esteem, increased risk for discrimination and poor body image. Social isolation among overweight children is not uncommon.
• Many of these complications or consequences were once considered to be almost exclusively adult conditions. In the past, hypertension, coronary artery disease and type 2 diabetes were rarely seen in the pediatricians' office.
• Type 2 diabetes, which used to be referred to as adult onset diabetes, has increased dramatically in adults ( http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/statistics/prev/state/index.htm ) and has now reached epidemic levels in children in the U.S. This unprecedented rise in type 2 diabetes is directly linked to the obesity epidemic.
• Diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases among children in the United States . Children in the African-American, Hispanic and American-Indian population have the highest incidence. Approximately 150,000 people under the age of 18 have diabetes. The CDC estimates that among the newly diagnosed cases of diabetes in children and adolescents those with type 2 diabetes range between 8 and 43 percent. Type 2 diabetes develops when the body no longer uses insulin properly. Type 2 diabetes may lead to serious health complications such as heart and kidney disease, stroke, blindness and loss of limbs.

Overweight children have a high risk of becoming obese adults

• Overweight that begins in childhood tends to be more severe and is associated with more adverse effects that overweight that begin in adulthood.
• If a child is overweight by the age of 10-13 years, there is a 70% chance he or she will be overweight as an adult.

Economic costs associated with overweight are increasing

• A recent study conducted by the CDC estimates that the U.S. spent nearly 75 billion dollars on obesity related medical problems in 2003 and that about half of this bill was paid by tax payers through the Medicare and Medicaid system.
• Hospitalizations for children and adolescents for diseases associated with obesity have risen dramatically between 1979 and 1999 and hospitalization costs have tripled.

Children become overweight for a variety of reasons.

• Lack of physical activity is one culprit. The average child spends approximately 4 hours per day in front of the television. Children who watch more television are less likely to participate in vigorous activity and tend to have higher BMI's. Fewer schools offer organized physical activity via physical education.
• Lack of physical activity combined with increased portion sizes of food, increased frequency of intake of high fat convenience foods and snack items and sweetened beverages has created a situation where children are taking in significantly more calories than they are expending.
• Societal factors influence childhood overweight in that people drive more than they walk and in many areas, children do not have safe places to play outside.
• The child's weight status is the result of many factors including overall diet, physical activity level and the eating habits of the parents, the families' socioeconomic status and the environment in which the children are being raised.

Health care professionals, Ohio Public Health Association members, parents and teachers have a role in stopping the epidemic of childhood overweight and the health problems that go with it

• Ohio 's health care professionals, OPHA, parents and teachers should be encouraging children and adolescents to become more active and to consume a healthy diet that complies with the food guide pyramid guidelines. We should lead by example. Test your knowledge about childhood overweight and related issues by working through the nutrition quiz and visit the websites listed for more information.

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