Rates of Obesity Expected to Increase
While the incidence of obesity has increased significantly since the 1960s, it is expected to continue rising over the next eight years in even larger increases. Researchers from the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University noted facets of this trend in a report published in Epidemiologic Reviews.
The prevalence of obesity jumped from 13 to 32 percent between the 1960 and 2004. Based on their meta-analysis, the researchers predict that almost three-quarters of American adults and almost one-quarters of teenagers and children will be overweight or obese by 2015.
Other trends noted in the analysis include that women between ages 20-34 are the group with the fastest increasing rate of obesity. Among African American women over 40, 80 percent are overweight. Half of those women are obese. Asians born in the U.S. are four times more likely to be obese than those born in Asia.
Other trends highlight educational attainment; the less educated are more likely to be obese. The only ethnic group in which this trend did not hold was African American women. The prevalence of obesity is more pronounced in the southeast, which has higher rates of obesity compared to the Midwest, Northeast, and West Coast.
The importance of these statistics in the healthcare realm relates not only to the anticipated increase of co-morbid health conditions, but also to the equipment necessary for treatment. For further information on this topic, see the previous posting from Hospital Buyer.
July 20, 2007 Related topics: Bariatrics & Obesity, Trends, Health issues