Obesity in children and young people: a crisis in public health

作者：Tim Lobstein, Louise Alison Baur, Ricardo Uauy · 发表于：Obesity Reviews · 年份：2004 · DOI：10.1111/j.1467-789x.2004.00133.x · 被引用次数：3829 · 研究领域：Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet、Birth, Development, and Health、Child Nutrition and Water Access

Ten per cent of the world's school-aged children are estimated to be carrying excess body fat (Fig. 1), with an increased risk for developing chronic disease. Of these overweight children, a quarter are obese, with a significant likelihood of some having multiple risk factors for type 2 diabetes, heart disease and a variety of other co-morbidities before or during early adulthood. The prevalence of overweight is dramatically higher in economically developed regions, but is rising significantly in most parts of the world. Prevalence of overweight and obesity among school-age children in global regions. Overweight and obesity defined by IOTF criteria. Children aged 5–17 years. Based on surveys in different years after 1990. Source: IOTF (1). In many countries the problem of childhood obesity is worsening at a dramatic rate. Surveys during the 1990s show that in Brazil and the USA, an additional 0.5% of the entire child population became overweight each year. In Canada, Australia and parts of Europe the rates were higher, with an additional 1% of all children becoming overweight each year. The burden upon the health services cannot yet be estimated. Although childhood obesity brings a number of additional problems in its train – hyperinsulinaemia, poor glucose tolerance and a raised risk of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnoea, social exclusion and depression – the greatest health problems will be seen in the next generation of adults as the present childhood obesity epid...