Epidemiology of Obesity

Obesity is a serious global public health and economic threat with almost 2.0 billion adults deemed overweight and nearly 600 million considered obese. Furthermore, over 300 million children and adolescents aged 5–19 years are also believed to be overweight or obese. Adult obesity trends in the United States (U.S.) have nearly tripled since 1975 and prevalence rates could peak at 40–50% by 2030. Children and adolescents have suffered from consistently increasing overweight and obesity prevalence over the past 10 years and overweight youth have a five-fold increased risk of becoming obese as adults. The direct and indirect healthcare costs associated with obesity in the U.S. alone are estimated at over $150 billion annually. Even small decreases in obesity prevalence could lead to billions of dollars of avoided medical care costs.