Obesity and CVD

Obesity: a Worldwide Epidemic

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It is an established fact that overweight and obesity constitute major public health challenges in today’s society (1). The number of individuals who are overweight or obese is increasing rapidly, and the World Health Organization (WHO) has gone so far as to call the worldwide rise in obesity a global epidemic (2). According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) (3), more than 64% of American adults are overweight and 23% are obese. Unfortunately, this dramatic increase in obesity is not limited to adults. The number of overweight and obese children and adolescents is also on the rise (4). The increasing prevalence of childhood obesity is a major concern not only because of the short-term health problems it causes, but also because it increases the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in adulthood (5).

Reference

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1. Bray GA, Bouchard C and James WPT, eds. Handbook of obesity. New York: Marcel Dekker. 1998.

2. WHO 2000 Obesity: Preventing and managing the global epidemic. Report of a WHO consultation. [WHO Technical report series No. 894]. Geneva. World Health Organization 2000.

3. Kuczmarski RJ, Flegal KM, Campbell SM, et al. Increasing prevalence of overweight among US adults. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, 1960 to 1991. JAMA 1994; 272: 205-11.

4. Engeland A, Bjorge T, Sogaard AJ, et al. Body mass index in adolescence in relation to total mortality: 32-year follow-up of 227,000 Norwegian boys and girls. Am J Epidemiol 2003; 157: 517-23.

5. Krauss RM, Winston M, Fletcher BJ, et al. Obesity: impact on cardiovascular disease. Circulation 1998; 98: 1472-6.

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