Background: Obesity as a disease is increasing in incidence and prevalence across all demographics, socioeconomic status. Our objective was to determine the current trend and possible modifiable factors that can be intervened for a possible halt or negative propensity in the current upward trend.
Methods: NHANES data from 1999 thru 2016 were analyzed. Minors (age <18 years) and underweight (BMI <18.5) were excluded. Prevalence and adjusted odds ratio were calculated among obese versus non-obese
Results: After applying exclusion criteria, total sample size was 48816. Prevalence of obesity increased steadily from 1999 to 2016 (31.7% to 40.3% respectively). Whereas normal weight category decreased from 33.7% to 27.6%. Obesity is increasing across all gender and race with Hispanic showing more dynamic change over the years. Obesity is more prevalent among married vs. not married and among less educated population. Interestingly, health insured population are significantly more obese (36.0%) compared to uninsured (33.1%). Analysis on self-perception of health questionnaire showed more non-obese population (47%) thinks their health is excellent/very good compared to obese (30.0%). On the other hand, 30.1% obese thought their health is fair/poor compared to only 18.7% among non-obese. Significantly higher number of obese (12.8%) thought their health is worse compared to last year (10.3% among non-obese group). Healthcare utilization data shows that healthcare was more available to the obese population (86.2%) compared to non-obese ((80.8%). Majority get healthcare through PCP (68.4% in non-obese and 68.9% in obese). >3 times healthcare visit in past year was significantly higher among obese vs. non-obese (44.3% vs. 34.9%). Prevalence of overnight hospital stay was also higher among obese 14.1 % compared to 11.1 % in non-obese. Odds ratio of overnight hospitalization, >2 nights in hospital and seeking a mental health care were 1.23(95% CI 1.16-1.30), 1.23 (1.08-1.39) and 1.24 (1.16-1.33) among obese (vs. non-obese). 86.3% of obese population thinks they are overweight but only 57.7% of them tried to lose weight.
Conclusions: Despite more healthcare access in comparison to non-obese, trend in obesity is increasing. Opportunity remains among health care professionals and institutions to recognize obesity as a disease and take measures for early intervention to halt its current trend.
