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Show Women's and Children's Health Overweight Children and Adolescents Compiled by Mario Peck, Ameyo and Manuel Negron Utah Overweight Adolescents in 2000:15% Studies indicate that overweight adolescents tend to become overweight adults. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) define overweight children as having Body Mass Index (BMI) values at or above the 95th percentile of sex specific BMI growth charts. BMI values are calculated as: weight (kg)/ height (m) squared. Of great concern is the increased prevalence of type II diabetes (normally seen as an adult disease), asthma, hypertension, dyslepedemia, and coronary heart disease among children. Tliere are over 30 diseases directly correlated to the increase in overweight and obese children. The National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES) gathers data on children 6-19 years of age. These data indicate that since the early 1970s, the percentage of youth defined as overweight in the U.S. has more than doubled (Figure 1), and continues to rise, despite the fact that Healthy People 2010 includes a goal to decrease the proportion of overweight or obese children and adolescents by half (from 11% to 5% by 2010). The Youth Risk Behavioral Survey (YRBS) shows Utah's teens as being about as overweight as teens nationally, although the mountain region has a greater percent of obese children and adolescents than the U.S. (Figure 2). Efforts to decrease childhood overweight and obesity focus on cultivating lifelong healthy habits among children, including increasing healthy school lunch availability, and reducing unhealthy vending machine food availability to children at school. Other efforts include health education classes in school, and increasing/providing outdoor recreation areas at school. Figure 1. Prevalence of Overweight, Children and Adolescents, U.S. 1974-2000. o 0% 10% 20% 2000 ? 1999 ? 1988-1994 El 1976-1980 H1971-1974 Figure 2. Prevalence of Overweight, Children and Adolescents, Mountain Region and U.S., 1991-2000. 35% -30% 25% -20% -15% -10% - 0% 17.10% 15% 1991 1998 2000 MountaIn Region Sources: Division of Community and Family Health Services (CFHS) (2000). CFHS Division Plan and Report, 2002. Salt Lake City, UT: Utah Department of Health. National Center for Health Statistics (2000). Prevalence of overweight among children and adolescents: United States, 1999-2000. Center For Disease Control, [online] <. •- v ^ \ ii National Center for Health Statistics. (2001). Youth Risk Behavioral Survey 2001. Centers for Disease Control, [online] htW/www cdc.gov/nccdphp/ y> v. s- " -¦. atM) lonline.htm 106 Utah's Health: An Annual Review Volume IX |