Pediatric obesity sharply increases over two-year period: study

Obesity rates among two to five-year-old children increased significantly between 2015 and 2016, according to a study monitoring obesity trends in the U.S. over a 17-year-period.

“Despite previous reports that obesity in children and adolescents has remained stable or decreased in recent years, we found no evidence of a decline in obesity prevalence at any age,” researchers from Duke University’s Department of population Health Sciences wrote in their conclusion.

“In contrast, we report a significant increase in severe obesity among children aged 2 to 5 years since the 2013–2014 cycle, a trend that continued upward for many subgroups.”

In 2015-2016, 26 percent of two to five year-olds were considered overweight, 13.7 percent ranked as class I obesity (a BMI of between 30 and 34.9); 1.8 percent as class II obesity (BMI between 35 to 39.9); and 0.2 percent as class III obesity (BMI equal or greater than 40).

In 2013-214, 25.1 percent of two to five year-olds were categorized as overweight; 9.3 percent as class I obesity; 1.7 percent as class II obesity and 0.2 percent as class III.

The study, which was published in the journal Pediatrics on Monday, relied on data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from the years 1999 to 2016, an annual, nationally representative survey issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to gage the health of the nation.

The researchers, led by Duke University health services researcher Asheley Skinner, found an increase in “all definitions of overweight and obesity among children 2-19 years-old, most prominently among adolescents.”

While White and Asian-American children had significantly lower rates of obesity compared to African-American children, Hispanic children or children of other races, the authors wrote.

Also, the rate of overweight, older adolescent females increased from 36 percent to 48 percent (A BMI between 25 and 29.9).

For the years 2015-2016, percentage of overweight children age two to 19 based on race included 29.9 percent of white children; 37.8 percent of African-American children; 45.9 percent of Hispanic children; 23.2 percent of Asian-American children; and 41.5 percent of children from a different race.