Healthy People 2020: Adolescent Obesity
Introduction
Obesity is fat accumulation in the body that lead to an increase in body weight that is at least 10% higher than the normal body weight. Adolescence is the period of rapid growth and body changes in the body as a child transitions to adulthood. Obesity classification in adults is by taking into consideration the body weight and the height of an individual, then Basal Metabolic Index is determined (BMI). Due to rapid change in body weight in children and adolescents, gender and age specific BMI calculation determines obesity in the two groups. Adolescents falling in 85th and 94th percentiles are overweight while those above 95th percentiles classified as obese adolescents (Schwarz & Peterson, 2012). The paper outlines adolescent obesity and its effects in the United States of America. It also focuses on how the government and other local organizations have established strategies to prevent and control adolescent obesity in the United States.
Causes of obesity are complex as they include: biological, genetic, cultural and behavioral causes. Obesity often occurs when adolescents take more calories than the body requires. Such intake causes the body to store the excess calories in the body as fat leading to weight gain. An increment in few kilograms does not indicate obesity but is an indicator of a tendency of fast weight gain in an adolescents. Changes in diet and physical activities can be considered to prevent the teenager from becoming obese. From various studies carried out, obese adolescents have an 80% likelihood of becoming obese adults. Adolescents with on obese parent has a 50% chance of becoming obese while if both parents are obese, the child becomes 80% likely to be obese. The environment of the adolescent attributes to causing obesity among the group too (American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 2016).
Methods
Data used by Healthy People 2020 obtained from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from the year 2005-2006 where 12,862 participants were involved in the survey. About 10,346 (80%) participants did interview, and 9,950 (77%) filled the health examination component used in the survey. Weights of participants involved in the survey were done while wearing the examination gowns and had no shoes on. Weight in kilograms was divided by height (m) to determine percentiles of the participants. Center for Disease Control and Prevention growth charts were used to establish obese children who had percentiles above 95 (Healthy People 2020, 2017).
Results
Obesity in adolescents is a major health problem disposing adolescents to poor health in the United States. Results from the NHANES survey did in the year 2005-2006 showed that 17.9% of adolescents aged 12-19 years were obese. Healthy People 2020 formed a baseline using the results of the study (Healthy People 2020, 2017). The baseline formed basics of coming up with strategies to prevent and manage obesity among adolescents and targeted a decrease in prevalence to 16.1% by the year 2020.
Another report of the year 2011-2014 by CDC, showed that the prevalence of obesity among adolescents …
