Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002

National, regional, and global trends in adult overweight and obesity prevalences

National, regional, and global trends in adult overweight and obesity prevalences, Population Health Metrics 2012, 10:22

  • “Excess body weight is an important risk factor for mortality and morbidity from cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers, and musculoskeletal disorders, causing nearly three million annual deaths worldwide. In previous work, we used a systematic analysis
    of data from population-based health examination surveys and epidemiologic studies to estimate trends in mean body mass index (BMI) between 1980 and 2008 in 199 countries and territories in 21 regions. The results demonstrated the extent of the rise in BMI, and its similarities and differences, across countries and regions. This work, however, provided limited information on the prevalences of overweight and obesity, at the regional level and for two years, 1980 and 2008, only. Data on the prevalence of overweight and obesity by country and their trends are needed for two reasons: first, although epidemiologic studies have shown that ischemic heart disease, ischemic stroke, and diabetes are linearly associated with measures of excess body weight from low levels, some other outcomes, including hemorrhagic stroke, may have thresholds at higher levels. Second, prevalence estimates are commonly used for public and policy communication of the extent of the obesity epidemic; hence there is great demand for such information. In this paper, we advance our previous work by estimating trends in overweight and obesity for all countries and regions.”
  • Sorry, comments are closed for this post.