Latest Data Show Rapid Rise in Obesity

Mon Dec 22, 2003

By The Associated Press

Some facts and figures about obesity in the United States from the recent health studies:

·        The number of obese adults is soaring, up to nearly 59 million people, or almost a third of all adults — and doubling over the past two decades.

·        Fifteen percent of youths ages 6 to 19 were seriously overweight, the term experts use as a rough equivalent to obesity in children. That is nearly 9 million youths and triple the number in a similar assessment from 1980.

·        Obesity can sharply reduce life expectancy. Studies released this year showed that being obese at age 20 can take 20 years off a person's life; being obese at age 40 can reduce life expectancy by seven years.

·        The percentage of extremely obese people — at least 100 pounds overweight — is growing even faster, one study found. From the 1980s to 2000, extremely obese adults quadrupled to about 4 million, or about 1 in every 50 adults.

·        Medical care for the obese averaged $732 per year more per person than for people of normal weight, one study found. Nationwide, that would mean $92.6 billion more in 2002, with half the cost picked up by government-funded Medicare and Medicaid programs.

Sources: Studies in the Journal of the American Medical Association; Archives of Internal Medicine; Health Affairs journal.

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