Obesity

Indicator Definition
Obesity among adolescents is defined as having a Body Mass Index (BMI) at or above the 95th percentile on the gender- and age-specific revised Growth Charts of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). BMI for children and adolescents is a number calculated from their weight and height. BMI measurements for children and adolescents reflect normal differences in body fat between boys and girls while considering differences in body fat at various ages.¹

Obese adolescents in Colorado6

Obese adolescents by sex and race in Colorado7

Indicator Significance
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 18 percent of U.S. children and adolescents ages 6–19 are obese. Being obese is a serious health issue affecting a growing number of adolescents, threatening their quality of life and putting them at increased risk for chronic disease as adults. Once an adolescent has become obese, it is likely he or she will carry into adulthood the excess weight and other related conditions leading to poor health. Even when excess weight is lost, obese teenagers maintain increased risk factors for coronary artery disease and stroke as adults.²

Colorado Specifics
Although Colorado has one of the lowest percentages of obese high school students in the country, more of them have become obese in the past six years, as have Coloradans in general. High school-aged boys are twice as likely as girls to be obese, and Hispanic students are twice as likely to be obese as their white peers.³

Promising Initiatives
In Colorado
Colorado Connections for Healthy Schools (CCHS) is a coalition that includes the Colorado Department of Education and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s school-aged children. CCHS has developed a Healthy Kids Colorado Survey (HKCS) administered to high school students that focuses on physical activity as it is a gateway to other health-related issues such as poor nutrition, overweight, obesity and diabetes. Based on findings from the 2005 – 06 survey, CCHS has developed a comprehensive curriculum for schools that includes physical education and nutrition classes.⁴

Elsewhere
In 2005, Morristown Memorial Hospital in New Jersey was awarded a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to create a Web-based nutrition and fitness program. This initiative, entitled Project TeenFit, is an online obesity-prevention program for adolescents that works in conjunction with the hospital’s other award-winning site, teenhealthFX.com. Since teenagers seek information from the Internet, the health professionals at Morristown Memorial wanted to create a space where teens can ask questions and receive responses not only from doctors but also from other teens. The goal is to educate and to inform students, while instilling long-term and effective behavior changes.⁵

Obese adolescents⁸

Text

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2000 CDC Growth Charts: United States.
   
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Overweight and Obesity."
   
3. Alton I. "The Overweight Adolescent." In: Stang J, Story M, eds. Guidelines for Adolescent Nutrition Services. Minneapolis, Minn: University of Minnesota; 2005.
   
   Fowler-Brown A, et al. "Prevention and Treatment of Overweight in Children and Adolescents." American Family Physician; June 1, 2004.
   
   
4. Colorado Connections for Healthy Schools.
   
5. Morristown Memorial Hospital.
   
   TeenHealthFX.
   

Charts

6. Source: Colorado Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2001–2005, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
   
7. Source: Colorado Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 2005, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
   
8. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Healthy Youth, 2005.