Running head: THE HEALTH RISKS OF OBESITY 1
The Health Risks of Obesity
The overall incidence or prevalence rate of obesity in the United States is estimated at just over 39. 8%. (Hruby & Hu, 2015)This means that more than a third of the adults and children in the United States record a Body Mass Index (BMI) of over 30kg per metre squared. The number is expected to rise because about 55% of the entire population are believed to be overweight (Hruby & Hu, 2015). The bracket continues to widen as industrialisation and a passive life style lead to a growing number of people with excess weight than they need. Women and children are the most affected by this scourge. 30% of children in particular are estimated to be obese. (Hruby & Hu, 2015) Men are also affected to a smaller extent. The rising prevalence is expected to adversely affect health care interventions. It is currently reducing productivity and the increasing the cost of health insurance due to an increase in lifestyle diseases (Hruby & Hu, 2015).
Despite advances made in health care, the mortality rate in the US has been on a slow decline. It is believed that obesity is the greatest contributor to the slow declining rate of mortality. More than 280,000 deaths per year are attributed to obesity ( Ogden et al, 2017). They include people suffering from chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, stroke and respiratory diseases. 80% of people whose deaths were related to obesity had the same hazard ratio with the indicator of elevated BMI. The other 20% has BMI of overweight people with a slightly lower hazard ratio. Ogden et al.( 2017) further argue that the rate is alarming as it represents about 10 % of the overall mortality rate in the US. The authors further state that with obesity on the rise, the US mortality rate continues to decline at a rate much lower than that of other developed nations. The overall mortality rate for the US stands at 2,626,418 deaths per year ( Ogden et al., 2017).
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
According to Preston, Vierboom and Stokes (2018), obesity affects a larger number of women than men in the US. 40% of women constitute the national obese count. They are followed by 35% of men and a lower percentage of children. The women affected are more likely to experience extreme obesity on a larger scale than men. The group can be further divided into ethnic groups. Preston, Vierboom & Stokes (2018) also add that non Hispanic black women make up 57.2 percent of the obese. Hispanic women follow closely at 46.9%. White women are affected at 38.2% and Asian women have the lowest occurrence at 12.4% (Preston, Vierboom & Stokes, 2018). The bigger portion of the women population are those with a lower level of education. Awareness is thought to be at the heart of the problem because women are responsible for food choices within most homes and communities. Women of all ages are affected by obesity although extreme obesity is recorded among women over the age of 50 (Preston, Vierboom & Stokes, 2018).
Acccording to Bhupathiraju and Hu, (2016) 20 out of 100 deaths recorded every years are as a result of obesity. Out of these, 12 are women. The women in question are adversely affected because their lives are cut short prematurely. Obesity contributes to maternal mortality through conditions such as gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia. These conditions are harder to fight when combined with obesity. According to Bhupathiraju and Hu (2016), the elevated cost of health care also contributes to the quality of life that an obese patient can maintain. 22.3% of all obese women died as a result of heart related illnesses. They include heart disease, heart failure and general cardiovascular complications. Another 8% is due to complications arising from type 2 Diabetes. Bhupathiraju and Hu (2016) also elucidate that this mortality rate is attributed to an increase in the medical conditions that are directly linked to obesity. A large number of these women are Hispanic women with a relatively lower level of education. Obesity therefore contributes to about one third of the causes of death among women (Bhupathiraju & Hu, 2016).
References
Bhupathiraju, S. N., & Hu, F. B. (2016). Epidemiology of obesity and diabetes and their cardiovascular complications. Circulation research, 118(11), 1723-1735.
Hruby, A., & Hu, F. B. (2015). The epidemiology of obesity: a big picture. Pharmacoeconomics, 33(7), 673-689.
Ogden, C. L., Fakhouri, T. H., Carroll, M. D., Hales, C. M., Fryar, C. D., Li, X., & Freedman, D. S. (2017). Prevalence of obesity among adults, by household income and education—United States, 2011–2014. MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report, 66(50), 1369.
Preston, S. H., Vierboom, Y. C., & Stokes, A. (2018). The role of obesity in exceptionally slow US mortality improvement. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 201716802.
