US Childhood Obesity no longer increasing

Tomorrow JAMA will publish an article entitled "High Body Mass Index for Age Among US Children and Adolescents, 2003-2006" by Cynthia L. Ogden, Margaret D. Carroll and Katherine M. Flegal from CDC.

The study is based on height and weight measurements obtained from 8,165 children and adolescents as part of the 2003-2004 and 2005-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

There was no significant increase in the prevalence of obese children and teens in the U.S. between 1999 and 2006. This is in contrast to the increase that has been reported in prior years. This is amazingly good news - and also about time !

But the absolute figures for obesity amongst US children and teens are still alarming. In 2003-2006 11.3 percent of children and adolescents were at or above the 97th percentile of BMI for age. For the same period, 16.3 percent of children and adolescents had a BMI for age at or above the 95th percentile of BMI for age, and 31.9 percent were at or above the 85th percentile.

Black and Mexican American girls were more likely to have a high BMI than white girls. Similarly amongst boys, Mexican Americans were significantly more likely to have high BMI than white boys.

Find more info on jama.ama-assn.org/