The Epidemic of Obesity in Children and Adolescents in the World

Abstract

The prevalence of obesity has reached alarming levels, affecting virtually both developed and developing countries of all socioeconomic groups, irrespective of age, sex or ethnicity. Concerning childhood obesity, it has been estimated that worldwide over 22 million children under the age of 5 are severely overweight, and one in 10 children are overweight. This global average reflects a wide range of prevalence levels, with the prevalence of overweight in Africa and Asia averaging well below 10% and in the Americas and Europe above 20%. The proportion of school-age children affected will almost double by 2010 compared with the most recently available surveys from the late 1990s up to 2003. In the European Union, the number of children who are overweight is expected to rise by 1.3 million children per year, with more than 300,000 of them becoming obese each year without urgent action to counteract the trend. By 2010 it is estimated that 26 million children in EU countries will be overweight, including 6.4 million who will be obese. Moreover, in the USA the prevalence of obesity in adolescents has increased dramatically from 5% to 13% in boys and from 5% to 9% in girls between 1966-70 and 1988-91. In this review paper we present the epidemiology of obesity in children and adolescents, including prevalence rates, trends, and risk factors associated with this phenomenon.

Influência do sobrepeso e da obesidade na postura, na praxia global e no equilíbrio de escolares

“…The overweight rates in the Brazilian population have increased to the point of being considered an epidemic 2,22 . Along with a decline in child malnutrition, Brazil has seen a 16.7% increase in child overweight 3 .…”

Risk factors for childhood overweight: shift of the mean body mass index and shift of the upper percentiles: results from a cross-sectional study

“…7,42 In general, the prevalence and trends of childhood overweight are known to be similar in the Americas and Europe. 3,43 Unfortunately, our cross-sectional data do not allow the identification of target groups for obesity-prevention programs because the examined percentiles refer to the outcome variable BMI-SDS at preschool age. On the basis of these data, it is unclear whether overweight children at school entry would also have been overweight at an earlier age, when a potential intervention (such as breastfeeding) might take place.…”

Prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in children and relationship to metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, and waist circumference

“…The global epidemic of childhood obesity has become a serious public health concern [1], and recent studies suggest that the prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is increasing in children [2,3], especially in obese children [4,5]. This condition is considered to be the most common form of chronic liver disease in the pediatric population [6].…”

“…The aim of the study reported here was: (1) to determine whether each component of metabolic syndrome is positively correlated with the degree of NAFLD (doseresponse relationship); (2) to determine whether pediatric NAFLD is closely related to metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, and waist circumference (WC).…”