Obesity: Causes and Consequences
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Obesity Chad D. Jensen1, Amy F. Sato2 and Elissa Jelalian3 1 Department of Psychology, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, USA 2 Department of Psychology, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA 3 Department of Psychiatry, Rhode Island Hospital, Brown Medical School, Providence, RI, USA
Synonyms Overweight
Definition The prevalence of obesity has increased dramatically in the USA and worldwide over the past 30 years. Obesity and its consequences represent a significant public and individual health concern. Generally, obesity results when there is a sustained energy imbalance such that caloric intake (i.e., through food and beverages) exceeds caloric output (i.e., body functions, physical activity). In adults, obesity is defined as a body mass index (kg/m2) of 30 or higher and overweight is defined as a BMI between 25.0 and 29.9. In children and adolescents, obesity is defined as a BMI at or above the 95th percentile for age and gender, and overweight is defined as
a BMI at or above the 85th percentile. Current estimates suggest that 32% of men and 35% of women in the USA meet criteria for obesity (Flegal, Carroll, Ogden, & Curtin, 2010). Similarly, almost 17% of US children and adolescents (ages 2–19) are obese and 32% of youth are either overweight or obese (Ogden, Carroll, Curtin, Lamb & Flegal, 2010). Although increases in prevalence may have slowed over the past 10 years, researchers estimate that if the trajectory of obesity prevalence continues at present rates, almost half of US adults will meet criteria for obesity by 2020 (Stewart, Cutler & Rosen, 2009). Obesity confers significant risk for individual medical, psychological, and social risks. Deleterious health effects strongly associated with obesity include cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, certain types of cancers, sleep apnea, asthma, joint problems, depression, and suboptimal quality of life. Additionally, obesity represents a sizeable economic burden on society. The direct costs of medical care for adult obesity-related illness have been estimated to exceed $147 billion annually (Finkelstein, Trogdon, Cohen & Deitz, 2009). Moreover, estimates suggest that increases in obesity-related illness explain 27% of the increase in overall health-care spending in the USA between 1987 and 2001 (Thorpe, Florence, Howard, & Joski, 2004). Direct costs of childhood and adolescent obesity-related illness are estimated at 14.1 billion for prescription, outpatient, and emergency costs (Trasande & Chatterjee, 2009) in
M.D. Gellman & J.R. Turner (eds.), Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4419-1005-9, # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
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addition to 237.6 million for inpatient treatment (Trasande, Liu, Freyer, & Weitzman, 2009). Given the high prevalence of obesity in children and adults, prevention and treatment approaches have received increasing attention. Individual and group interventions for obesity have adopted behavioral (i.e., “lifestyle”), pharmacological, and surgical approaches (Wilfley, Tibbs, Van Buren, Reach, Wal
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