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Obesity Rates Remain High in Men and Increase in Women

JAMA; 2016 Jun 7; Flegal, Kruszon-Moran, et al

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The age-adjusted prevalence of obesity in 2013-2014 was 35% among men and 40.4% among women in the US, while for women, the prevalence of overall obesity and of class 3 obesity showed significant linear trends for increase between 2005 and 2014 but no significant trends for men. This according to a study of 2,638 adult men (mean age, 46.8 years) and 2,817 women (mean age, 48.4 years) from the most recent 2 years (2013-2014) of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and data from the 2013 participants in the previous NHANES surveys from 2005 through 2012, representative samples of the US population. Researchers found:

• For the years 2013 to 2014, the overall age-adjusted prevalence of obesity was 37.7%; among men, 35.0%; and among women, 40.4%.

• Corresponding prevalence of class 3 obesity overall was 7.7%; among men, 5.5%; and among women, 9.9%.

• Analyses of changes over the decade from 2005 through 2014 showed significant increasing linear trends for women for overall obesity and for class 3 obesity, but not among men.

Citation: Flegal KM, Kruszon-Moran D, Carroll MD, Fryar CD, Ogden CL. Trends in obesity among adults in the United States, 2005 to 2014. JAMA. 2016;315(21):2284-2291. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.6458.

Commentary: The increase in obesity in the US continues in an unrelenting fashion and threatens to undermine many of the important medical advances made over the last 50 years. There are many theories to explain this increase in obesity, ranging from increased consumption of foods containing high-fructose corn syrup, the super-size phenomena leading consumers to eat greater amounts of high calorie foods, decreased rates of home cooking of healthy foods, and decreased exercise and activity. For the first time in over 100 years, life expectancy in the US has begun to decrease, caused by increased mortality rates for heart disease, diabetes, chronic liver disease and stroke—all strongly linked to obesity.1 It is clear that there is not one single cause of obesity, and equally clear that the solution will need to be multifactorial and include primary prevention, medications, and well-thought out behavioral interventions. —Neil Skolnik, MD

1. Ludwig D. Lifespan weighed down by diet. JAMA. 2016;315:2269-2270. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.3829.

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