Childhood Obesity: Prevalance

http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/pednss.htm

and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES)

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/

clearly show that the proportion of children and adolescents that are overweight has increased dramatically over the last two decades (Troiano 1995).

NOTES: Excludes pregnant women starting with 1971-74. Pregnancy status not available for 1963-65 and 1966-70. Data for 1963-65 are children 6-11 years of age; data for 1966-70 are adolescents 12-17 years of age, not 12-19 years. SOURCE: CDC/NCHS, NHES AND NHANES.

The 1988-1994 NHANES III found 22% of children and adolescents to be at risk for overweight and 11% to be overweight (Strauss 1999) (see table 1). Data from 1999 indicates that over 15% of U.S.youth are overweight.
(http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/tables/2002/02hus071.pdf).

Table 1: Prevalence of at risk for overweight and overweight by age and gender

Data taken from references Zuguo 1998, Troiano 1995.

A difference can be seen between boys and girls, with the prevalence of both at risk for overweight and overweight greater for girls age 0-5 years old. However, beginning around age 9, rates of overweight for boys surpass girls in both weight categories.

Overweight Among Children of Color

Overweight continues to be a health problem that affects many poor youth and children of color.

Research has suggested that childhood obesity is more prevalent among Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black children when compared to non-Hispanic white children (Troiano 1995 & Zuguo 1998).

The PedNSS, which looks at low income children aged 0-5 years, suggests young Hispanic children have the greatest prevalence of overweight. African American youth showed the second highest prevalence of overweight and white children the lowest prevalence.

It should be noted, however, that the prevalence of overweight is increasing across all ethnic, racial and socioeconomic groups (see table 2).

Table 2: Prevalence of overweight by age, race and gender*