Abstract
Background In 2010, overweight and obesity were estimated to cause 3·4 million deaths, 3·9% of years of life lost, and 3·8% of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) worldwide. The rise in obesity has led to widespread calls for regular monitoring of changes in overweight and obesity prevalence in all populations. Comparable, up-to-date information about levels and trends is essential to quantify population health effects and to prompt decision makers to prioritise action. We estimate the global, regional, and national prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adults during 1980-2013. Methods We systematically identified surveys, reports, and published studies (n=1769) that included data for height and weight, both through physical measurements and self-reports. We used mixed effects linear regression to correct for bias in self-reports. We obtained data for prevalence of obesity and overweight by age, sex, country, and year (n=19 244) with a spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression model to estimate prevalence with 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs). Findings Worldwide, the proportion of adults with a body-mass index (BMI) of 25 kg/m2 or greater increased between 1980 and 2013 from 28·8% (95% UI 28·4-29·3) to 36·9% (36·3-37·4) in men, and from 29·8% (29·3- 30·2) to 38·0% (37·5-38·5) in women. Prevalence has increased substantially in children and adolescents in developed countries; 23·8% (22·9-24·7) of boys and 22·6% (21·7-23·6) of girls were overweight or obese in 2013. The prevalence of overweight and obesity has also increased in children and adolescents in developing countries, from 8·1% (7·7-8·6) to 12·9% (12·3-13·5) in 2013 for boys and from 8·4% (8·1-8·8) to 13·4% (13·0-13·9) in girls. In adults, estimated prevalence of obesity exceeded 50% in men in Tonga and in women in Kuwait, Kiribati, Federated States of Micronesia, Libya, Qatar, Tonga, and Samoa. Since 2006, the increase in adult obesity in developed countries has slowed down. Interpretation Because of the established health risks and substantial increases in prevalence, obesity has become a major global health challenge. Not only is obesity increasing, but no national success stories have been reported in the past 33 years. Urgent global action and leadership is needed to help countries to more effectively intervene. Funding Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 766-781 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| Journal | The Lancet |
| Volume | 384 |
| Issue number | 9945 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2014 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:AG has received a lecture fee from Boehringer Ingelheim, outside the submitted work. GAM is required to include the following statement: The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, or any other government entity. JAS has received research grants from Takeda and Savient and consultant fees from Savient, Takeda, Regeneron, and Allergan. He is a member of the executive of OMERACT, an organisation that develops outcome measures in rheumatology and receives arms-length funding from 36 companies; a member of the American College of Rheumatology's Guidelines subcommittee of the Quality of Care Committee; and a member of the Veterans Affairs Rheumatology Field Advisory Committee. YCW is assistant professor of health policy and management at the Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health. She codirects the Obesity Prevention Initiative and is a member of The Obesity Society. She receives grant funding from the National Institute of Health, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the JPB Foundation. KS and NI were funded by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science ( grant number 25253051 ). All other authors declare no competing interests.
Funding Information:
This trial was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. We thank the following individuals for their support of this research: Hideki Higashi, Maziar Moradi-Lakeh, Hmwe Hmwe Kyu, and Matthew Israelson, all from IHME, for their assistance acquiring data for analysis; Gulnoza Usmanova, Hyo Young Lee, and Hoàng T Diêu-Hiên, for translation of surveys into English; Casey M Graves (IHME) for helping to extract data for analysis. No individuals acknowledged received additional compensation for their efforts.
