Study charts steep rise in obesity among American youth since 2011
Black children and adolescents were the subgroup that saw the largest rise in obesity prevalence from 2011 to 2023, including a significant bump during the COVID-19 pandemic, CDC data show.
More than one in three Black youth, more than one in four Hispanic youth, nearly one in five White youth, and one in 10 Asian youth currently meet the criteria for obesity in the United States, an analysis of the CDC's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) found.
Researchers evaluated the rates of obesity and severe obesity among U.S. children (2 to 11 years) and adolescents (12 to 19 years) between 2011 and 2023 and assessed changes before versus during the COVID-19 pandemic. An individual with a body mass index (BMI) at or above the age- and sex-specific 95th percentile according to CDC growth charts was classified as having obesity and those with a BMI of 120% or more of this percentile were considered to have severe obesity.
Data from August 2021 to August 2023 represented the COVID-19 pandemic and were compared to the prepandemic period of January 2011 to March 2020. A total of 17,507 children and adolescents (54.4% children and 45.6% adolescents) were included in the study. The weighted mean participant age was 10.6 years; 48.9% were female, 5.5% were Asian, 13.7% were Black, 14.8% were Mexican American, 5.9% were other race or ethnicity, 9.3% were other Hispanic, and 50.7% were White. Results were published by Annals of Internal Medicine on July 1.
The prevalence of obesity in the study population increased from 20.3% between January 2011 and March 2020 to 22.0% in August 2021 to August 2023, with increases most prevalent among Black children and adolescents, rising from 22.4% to 35.8%. Prevalence of severe obesity remained stable overall and across subgroups between 2011 and August 2023. Between August 2021 and August 2023, prevalence of obesity was highest among Black (35.8%), Mexican American (28.1%), and other Hispanic (25.9%) youth, with similar patterns observed for severe obesity. After adjustment, there was no overall increase in obesity prevalence during the pandemic relative to the prepandemic period (adjusted difference, 0.52 percentage points; 95% CI, 2.3 to 3.3 percentage points) with similar patterns seen across children and adolescents. However, there was a pandemic related increase in obesity prevalence only among Black children and adolescents (adjusted difference, 10.4 percentage points; 95% CI, 0.41 to 20.3 percentage points).
Limitations include a lower response rate during the 2021 to 2023 NHANES cycle, lack of a direct measure of body fat adiposity, and limited power to detect small changes in obesity prevalence due to smaller sample sizes for some subgroups.
“Black children and adolescents were disproportionately exposed to obesity risk factors during the pandemic, including the loss of safe spaces for physical activity, increased food insecurity, and heightened stress linked to family economic hardship,” the authors wrote. More public health and policy interventions are needed to prevent and manage rising rates of childhood obesity among minority populations, they concluded.