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NEW YORK - The number of Americans who are severely obese shot up by 70 percent in the past decade or so, though the increase has slowed down in more recent years, a new study finds.
Between 2000 and 2010, the proportion of Americans who were severely obese - at least 100 pounds overweight - rose from 4 percent to almost 7 percent.
The increase showed signs of slowing after 2005, researchers found. But the bad news is that the severely obese remain the fastest-growing segment of obese Americans, said study leader Roland Sturm, a senior economist at the non-profit research institute RAND Corporation.
More than one-third of U.S. adults are obese, which means having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher. BMI is a measure of weight relative to height.
Recent studies have found that the nation's obesity rate, among adults and kids, may be leveling off. But most of those folks are moderately obese.
"Everybody's talking about obesity leveling off," Sturm said. But what tends to get "lost" in the discussion is the fact that severe obesity - BMIs of 40 or higher - is still rising fast.
That's important, Sturm said, because those are the people who have the highest healthcare costs - about double those of normal-weight Americans.
People with a BMI of 40 or higher would be at high risk of conditions like diabetes, severe arthritis and heart disease. They are also the folks who could be candidates for obesity surgery.
But there are other costs besides the healthcare price tag, Sturm noted. There's the human cost of living with obesity-related health problems, and often a loss to the workforce.
"There's the disability and inability to work," Sturm said. "People may be basically forced into retirement because they can't work."
The findings, reported in the International Journal of Obesity, are based on data from an annual government health survey of U.S. adults. BMI estimates were made based on people's self-reported weight and height.
Moderate obesity, the study found, rose relatively slowly after 2000 and seemed to level off from 2005 on. In contrast, the proportion of Americans with a BMI of 40 or above climbed by more than 70 percent.
That translates to about 15 million U.S. adults with a BMI that high, Sturm said.
And some Americans were consistently at greater risk over time than others. The rate of severe obesity was 50 percent higher among women than men, and twice as high among black Americans as among white and Hispanic adults.
What's more, the increases were bigger among people younger than 40 compared with older adults.
Sturm said that doctors once thought of severe obesity as a problem that affected a small and stable percentage of people who were genetically vulnerable to huge weight gain.
"That thinking has been proven wrong," Sturm said. "This is something that can happen to a surprisingly large percentage of the population."
And the implications for the healthcare system could be large, too, Sturm noted.
Experts estimate that obesity, in general, results in an additional $190 billion a year in U.S. healthcare costs - or one-fifth of all healthcare spending (see Reuters story of April 30, 2012 here: http://reut.rs/InjFnP).
Sturm said he doesn't think wider use of obesity surgery is the "answer" to the problem. "Probably the solution is preventing the weight gain in the first place."
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Did I read this correctly: 7% of Americans are 100 pounds or more overweight?
You read it right but while 7% are severely obese(BMI 40+), the article doesn't say the percent of those obese(BMI 30-39) or those overweight(BMI 25-29). Add that all up and its well over 60% of the population.
"There's the disability and inability to work," Sturm said. "People may be basically forced into retirement because they can't work." We are going to be in huge trouble if we have all these people on ss because they can't work since they're too fat. If its weight causing the problem then weight-loss should be a requirement for receiving benefits of any kind.
I am a veteran of the Army(13 years) and I had two back surgeries, two laproscopic surgeries and had my ovaries removed in trying to end my constant pain. I am allergic to morphine.
I continue to try and work full time and manage with my pain medicines most of the time. However, there are times that I will experince break thru pain. I have resorted to these shots and luckily they have helped. If these shots did not help and I could not find relief I would likely become another veteran sucide.
My life expectancy is shorten with any of the paths I choose. The medicine side effects will destroy my liver and kidneys eventually.
The pain may become so unbearable, and I may choose to end my life.
The shots maybe contamintated and end my life.
Please do not judge a pain patient so harshly. Yes, I am also slightly overweight too. Before this happened I lived my life to the fullest and was very fit. I still try to stay as fit as I can.
Thanks to my pain management team I can still pursue my dreams.
I recommend a book that all pain patients should read "The Pain Chronicles". The author addresses the history of pain, the role of doctor, the patient and the DEA. We have to walk a fine line due to laws and the law breakers.
VetKim you have Lyme Disease. You only need one band to say pos. or a pos. Spect scan or a pos. culture 2010 Oct Abstract
CDC/IDSA lied. As for the obesity it is not hard to understand when you have at least 1 in 29 of our our kids infected with stealth prion protein infections we have been blessed with in vaccines caused by using cell lines infected with spirochetal slime.
Vaccines never protected us from anything---they infected. We now tolerize even Rabies, Anthrax, and Dengue.
Sombunny fergot to tell them that spirochetal prion protein could not be killed as it shares it genes with whatever it needs to survive but you can kill all the infections it shares with to get your life back and your own stem cells can keep them out. First send the criminals to jail for all the lies of the last 35yrs. and then treat the masses with the real treatment they need for all lies of syndromes.
2010 Oct Abstract One band while criminals lied
The CDC criteria for a positive WB are as follows:
* For IgM, 2 of the following three bands: OspC (22-25), 39 and 41.
* For IgG, 5 of the following ten bands: 18, OspC (22-25), 28, 30, 39, 41, 45, 58, 66 and 93
Can we now estimate how many patients have been left to die with their syndrome of unknown origin because of the lies and failures? I'll tell you the worst crimes against humanity that have ever been wrought.
But not only that---Hormone disease because the infections transverse the neurons where the hormones must as well...There never was such a thing as AUTOIMMUNE or Psychiatry. They were all lies for profits by turning off our immune systems with prion protein spirochetal infections for profits. Because each and every antigen given in the name of protection adds to the prion synergy to keel US faster.