Child Obesity Rose Sharply During Pandemic

FRIDAY, Sept. 17, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Childhood obesity was a worrisome contented earlier the pandemic, and present it's alarmingly worse, caller information shows.

A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey recovered a "profound summation successful weight gain for kids" that is "substantial and alarming," Dr. Alyson Goodman, 1 of the study's authors, told the Associated Press.

For the study, researchers reviewed the aesculapian records of 432,000 U.S. children and teens aged 2 to 19. The kids had been weighed and measured astatine slightest doubly anterior to the pandemic and astatine slightest erstwhile betwixt June and the extremity of November of past year.

The probe squad was led by Samantha Lange of the CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. According to theAP, the investigators recovered that the fig of children and teens who were obese had grown to 22.4% successful August of 2020, up from 19.3% successful 2019, worsening a longstanding obesity epidemic successful the United States.

Children who had steadfast weights, had mean obesity oregon had terrible obesity each displayed much value summation than had occurred implicit the erstwhile mean years, the survey found.

Children who had terrible obesity gained astir 14.6 pounds compared to the 8.8 pounds of expected yearly value gain, the APreported. Those who had mean obesity would person been expected to summation astir 6.5 pounds but gained astir 12 pounds. Those who had a healthy weight had been gaining 3.4 pounds a year, but that accrued to 5.4 pounds during the pandemic.

Children aged 6 to 11 had the astir important increases successful rates of obesity, the AP reported. They are much babelike connected their parents, according to the study, and whitethorn person been much affected by the nonaccomplishment of in-person school.

According to the AP, the caller survey is the largest reappraisal of child obesity trends to day during the pandemic. Its limitations see that it did not look astatine however obesity trends disagree betwixt radical and taste groups. It besides lone included U.S. children who received aesculapian attraction earlier and during the pandemic.

Continued

Obesity is an contented affecting each ages. The fig of states successful which 35% oregon much of residents are obese includes 4 much this twelvemonth than past year, the CDC announced earlier. Those states are Delaware, Iowa, Ohio and Texas, which joined Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia. Those results are based connected self-reporting of height and weight by adults.

Obesity tin besides summation the hazard of terrible unwellness from COVID-19, experts note.

The caller survey was published successful the Sept. 17 contented of the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

More information

The American Academy of Pediatrics has much connected childhood obesity.

SOURCE: Associated Press, Sept. 16, 2021