A Social Ecological Approach to Rising Levels of Overweight and Obesity in Children and Adolescents in the United States

Childhood overweight and obesity and their associated health effects are rapidly becoming a major public health problem facing the United States today. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines obesity as a body mass index (BMI) between the 85 th percentile and the 95 th percentile, while obesity is defined as the BMI of children of the same age and sex. . According to the National Health Statistics Center at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2009, the prevalence of overweight children has more than tripled in the past 30 years.

Overweight and obesity in children and adolescents in the United States are increasing (48-52). Over the past three decades, the prevalence of overweight in young people aged 6-17 in the United States has more than doubled; the majority of growth occurred in the late 1970s (52). Approximately 4.7 million, or 11% of 6-17 years old, is overweight too (52). Obesity in young people is associated with elevated blood cholesterol levels (53-56) and hypertension (57-59), and some very obese young people have direct health problems (eg respiratory diseases, Orthopedic disease, hyperinsulinemia) suffer from. Illness) (60)). Overweight at childhood and adolescence is associated with an increase in adult mortality (61, 62). In addition, obese children and adolescents are discriminated by adults and are often excluded from the peer group, experiencing psychological stress, low physical image, low self-esteem (63, 64).

Among children and adolescents, obesity has dramatically increased worldwide. Between 1980 and 2013, the prevalence of overweight or obese children and adolescents has increased by nearly 50%. In 2013, more than 22% of girls in developed countries and nearly 24% of boys turned out to be overweight or obese. The proportion of children and adolescents in developing countries is rising, and nearly 13% of boys and over 13% of girls are overweight or obese. Children and adolescents in the Middle East and North Africa, especially girls have a particularly high obesity rate