"Prevalence of overweight and obesity in the United States,
1999-2004," by Cynthia L. Ogden and 5 others, JAMA,
295(13): 1549-55, 5 April 2006.
[Authors' affiliations: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
Atlanta, GA, and Hyattsville, MD]
Abstract: "Context The prevalence of
overweight in children and adolescents and obesity in adults in the
United States has increased over several decades.
Objective To provide current estimates of the
prevalence and trends of overweight in children and adolescents and
obesity in adults. Design, Setting, and Participants
Analysis of height and weight measurements from 3958 children and
adolescents aged 2 to 19 years and 4431 adults aged 20 years or older
obtained in 2003-2004 as part of the National Health and Nutrition
Examination Survey (NHANES), a nationally representative sample of the
US population. Data from the NHANES obtained in 1999-2000 and in
2001-2002 were compared with data from 2003-2004. Main Outcome
Measures Estimates of the prevalence of overweight in children
and adolescents and obesity in adults. Overweight among children and
adolescents was defined as at or above the 95th percentile of the
sex-specific body mass index (BMI) for age growth charts. Obesity among
adults was defined as a BMI of 30 or higher; extreme obesity was
defined as a BMI of 40 or higher. Results In
2003-2004, 17.1% of US children and adolescents were overweight and
32.2% of adults were obese. Tests for trend were significant for male
and female children and adolescents, indicating an increase in the
prevalence of overweight in female children and adolescents from 13.8%
in 1999-2000 to 16.0% in 2003-2004 and an increase in the prevalence of
overweight in male children and adolescents from 14.0% to 18.2%. Among
men, the prevalence of obesity increased significantly between
1999-2000 (27.5%) and 2003-2004 (31.1%). Among women, no significant
increase in obesity was observed between 1999-2000 (33.4%) and
2003-2004 (33.2%). The prevalence of extreme obesity (body mass index
>= 40) in 2003-2004 was 2.8% in men and 6.9% in women. In 2003-2004,
significant differences in obesity prevalence remained by
race/ethnicity and by age. Approximately 30% of non-Hispanic white
adults were obese as were 45.0% of non-Hispanic black adults and 36.8%
of Mexican Americans. Among adults aged 20 to 39 years, 28.5% were
obese while 36.8% of adults aged 40 to 59 years and 31.0% of those aged
60 years or older were obese in 2003-2004. Conclusions
The prevalence of overweight among children and adolescents and obesity
among men increased significantly during the 6-year period from 1999 to
2004; among women, no overall increases in the prevalence of obesity
were observed. These estimates were based on a 6-year period and
suggest that the increases in body weight are continuing in men and in
children and adolescents while they may be leveling off in women."
This 2006 report from JAMA was cited 156
times in current journal articles indexed by Thomson
Scientific during January-February 2008. For what is now the fifth
bimonthly count in a row, this paper emerges as the most-cited medicine
paper, aside from reviews, published in the last two years. Prior to
the most recent two-month tally, citations to the paper have accrued as
follows:
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