Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- In 2009, all states continued to have high prevalences of obesity among adults, although the prevalences varied geographically. No state met the Healthy People 2010 target of 15%, and the number of states with obesity prevalence of ?30% increased from none in 2000 to nine in 2009. The results of this report also indicate that the prevalence of adult obesity in the United States, as measured by BRFSS, continued to increase. Using 2007 population data for both years, the increase of 1.1 percentage points from 2007 to 2009 corresponds to approximately 2.4 million additional adults whose self-reported heights and weights yielded a BMI of ?30. Previously documented disparities in obesity prevalence continued by age, education, and race/ethnicity (6,7). Of particular concern are the high prevalences among non-Hispanic black women and persons with less education.
BRFSS estimates of obesity prevalence rely on self-reported height and weight, which likely produces underestimates because both men and women tend to overestimate their height and women tend to underestimate their weight (8). The overall 2009 BRFSS obesity prevalence estimate of 26.7% is 7.2 percentage points lower than the national 2007–2008 estimate of 33.9% from NHANES, for which height and weight were measured rather than self-reported (1).
In the BRFSS survey, the prevalence of obesity varied from 18.6% to 34.4% among states, with greater prevalences observed in the South and Midwest. Differences in demographic characteristics associated with obesity, dietary and physical activity behaviors, or environments and policies that affect these behaviors might contribute to the variability. However, the finding that no state met the Healthy People 2010 goal of 15% prevalence, despite the likelihood that state prevalences are underestimated, suggests that past efforts and investments to address the problem have not been sufficient. Thus, efforts need to be intensified.
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