Apr 27, 2012

Is Childhood and Adult obesity the main reason for the massive energy usage and increase in health care costs? #health

The simple math of mass and its toll on our nations... 50% or more of the population is overweight 

Some facts from CDC

  • Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years. 
  • The percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 20% in 2008. Similarly, the percentage of adolescents aged 12–19 years who were obese increased from 5% to 18% over the same period.
  • In 2008, more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese.1,2
  • Overweight is defined as having excess body weight for a particular height from fat, muscle, bone, water, or a combination of these factors.3 Obesity is defined as having excess body fat.4
  • Overweight and obesity are the result of “caloric imbalance”—too few calories expended for the amount of calories consumed—and are affected by various genetic, behavioral, and environmental factors.5,6
Find out more at:
http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/facts.htm

Prevalence of Obesity Among Adults with Arthritis — United States
Obesity and arthritis are critical public health problems with high prevalences and medical costs.
http://i43.tinypic.com/2ah777o.jpg
In the United States, an estimated 72.5 million adults aged ≥20 years are obese, and 50 million adults have arthritis and People with diagnosed diabetes have medical expenditures already 2.3 times higher than medical expenditures for people without diabetes
  • Medical costs are estimated at $147 billion for obesity each year
  • Medical costs are estimated at $128 billion for arthritis each year
  • Costs (direct and indirect) of diabetes: $174 billion each year
...the number of U.S. states with age-adjusted obesity prevalence ≥30.0% increased from 38 in 2003 to 48 in 2009. Through efforts to prevent, screen, and treat obesity in adults, clinicians and public health practitioners can collaborate to reduce the impact of obesity on U.S. adults with arthritis

Obesity is common among persons with arthritis (2) and is a modifiable risk factor associated with progression of arthritis, activity limitation, disability, reduced quality-of-life, total joint replacement, and poor clinical outcomes after joint replacement ...obesity prevalence, on average, was 54% higher, compared with adults without arthritis,
Source: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (CDC)


Add in  Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity Among Adults With Diagnosed Diabetes and you can see where majority of increases in healthcare and early deaths have come from - American Medical Association.

Type 2 diabetes
, which is linked to obesity and physical inactivity, accounts for 90%–95% of diabetes cases and most often occurs in people older than 40

"About two-thirds of adults and one-third of children in this country are overweight or obese. This adds to our health care bill, promotes the early onset of illness, and contributes to the incidence of deadly disease."

Obesity, Arthritis and Diabetes are Common, Disabling, and Deadly

Leading preventable causes of death worldwide - Wiki[2]

Cause Number of deaths resulting (millions per year)
Hypertension 7.8
Smoking tobacco 5.0
High cholesterol 3.9
Malnutrition 3.8
Sexually transmitted diseases 3.0
Poor diet 2.8
Overweight and obesity 2.5
Physical inactivity 2.0
Alcohol 1.9
Indoor air pollution from solid fuels 1.8
Unsafe water and poor sanitation 1.6

File:Preventable causes of death.png


Read more on our blog at:
http://ehsmanager.blogspot.com/search?q=obesity