Obesity: Improving Health Outcomes

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While exploring possible health issues and a population to focus on for my project, I was overwhelmed by the number of issues we are faced with everyday. I narrowed the search down to obesity and the population I would like to focus on is the adolescents. Health People 2010 identified overweight and obesity as one of the top ten leading health indicators that needs serious attention. Obesity has reached epidemic levels globally; being a significant threat to our own nation’s health. Adolescent obesity rates have more than tripled, as the adult obesity rate has doubled since 1980’s (Trust for America's Health, 2011a).

It was interesting to learn of particular statistics and trends concerning adolescent obesity in our nation. Geographic location, racial and ethnic status, and socioeconomic status (SES) all impact the disparities in obesity among the nation’s adolescents. Despite the disparities, there is an overall growing trend with this problem nationally as well as globally. This epidemic continues to be the most prevalent in the south. As Mississippi, for the seventh year in a row, has had the highest adolescent obesity rate in the nation (Trust for America's Health, 2011b). In 2008, Mexican-American adolescent boys and the non-Hispanic black adolescent girls had the highest prevalence of obesity (Ogden & Carroll, 2010). To no surprise, several research studies have found that from a SES, the higher percentage of adolescent obesity is with the lower SES population. Obesity is a threat to our nation’s health. Adolescents are the fastest growing population as it relates to this epidemic. In addition, the obesity epidemic is a big contributor to the skyrocketing health care costs in the United States and is a major risk factor a...

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Steinbeck, K., Baur, L., Cowell, C., & Pietrobelli, A. (2009). Clinical research in adolescents: Challenges and opportunities using obesity as a model. International Journal of Obesity, 33, 2-7.

Trust for America's Health. (2011a). TFAH initiatives. In Obesity. Retrieved from healthyamericans.org: http://healthyamericans.org/obesity/

Trust for America's Health. (2011b). Reports. In F as in fat: how obesity threatens America's future 2011. Retrieved from healthyamericans.org: http://healthyamericans.org/report/88/

Trust for America's Health. (2011c). Combating the obesity epidemic: A healthier america: Top priorities for prevention. In F as in fat: how obesity threatens America's future 2011. Retrieved from healthyamericans.org: http://healthyamericans.org/assets/files/TFAH%202010Top10PrioritiesObesity.pdf

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