Obesity is a serious health concern for children and adolescents. Data from NHANES surveys (1976–1980 and 2003–2006) show that the prevalence of obesity has increased: for children aged 2–5 years, prevalence increased from 5.0% to 12.4%; for those aged 6–11 years, prevalence increased from 6.5% to 17.0%; and for those aged 12–19 years, prevalence increased from 5.0% to 17.6%.
Healthy People 2010 identified overweight and obesity as 1 of 10 leading health indicators and called for a reduction in the proportion of children and adolescents who are overweight or obese, but the United States has made little progress toward the target goal.
Progress toward reducing the national prevalence of overweight and obesity is monitored using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). The most recent NHANES data (2003–2006) showed that for children aged 6 –11 years and 12–19 years, the prevalence of overweight was 17.0% and 17.6% respectively. These prevalence figures are more than three times the target prevalence of 5% set in Healthy People 2010.
Trends in Childhood Obesity
The following graphs show trends in childhood overweight based on NHANES data for various age groups, beginning with NHANES I (1971–1974) and ending with NHANES 2003–2006 (the most recently available published data).
Data from NHANES I (1971–1974) to NHANES 2003–2006 show increases in overweight among all age groups:
- Among preschool-aged children, aged 2–5 years, the prevalence of overweight increased from 5.0% to 12.4%.
- Among school-aged children, aged 6–11 years, the prevalence of overweight increased from 4.0% to 17.0%.
- Among school-aged adolescents, aged 12–19 years, the prevalence of overweight increased from 6.1% to 17.6%.
*Sex-and age-specific BMI ≥ 95th percentile based on the CDC growth charts Ogden CL, Flegal KM, Carroll MD, Johnson CL. Prevalence and trends in overweight among U.S. children and adolescents, 1999–2000. JAMA 2002;288:1728–1732. Hedley AA, Ogden CL, Johnson CL, Carroll MD, Curtin LR, Flegal KM. Prevalence of overweight and obesity among US children, adolescents, and adults, 1999–2002. JAMA 2004;291:2847–2850. Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Flegal KM. High Body Mass Index for Age Among US Children and Adolescents, 2003–2006.JAMA 2008;299:2401–2405.
Prevalence of Obesity* Among U.S. Children and Adolescents(Aged 2–19 Years)
Survey Periods
NHANES II
1976–1980NHANES III
1988–1994NHANES
1999–2002NHANES
2003–2006
Ages
2 through 55%
7.2%
10.3%
12.4%
Ages
6 through 116.5%
11.3%
15.8%
17.0%
Ages
12 through 195%
10.5%
16.1%
17.6%
Sources:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention content is free and public domain.
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