Epidemiology of Obesity and Overweight: A Comprehensive Analysis

This report analyzes the epidemiology of obesity and overweight, a growing global health concern. It begins with a discussion of global trends, highlighting the increasing prevalence of obesity and overweight across different age groups and countries, with data from the Global Burden of Disease stu...Read More

Obesity and Overweight
Epidemiology of Obesity and Overweight
Author
Department
University
Location
Word count: 1435
Technical Advisor: _____________________________ _____________
Dr. First Name Lastname Date

Obesity and Overweight 1
Introduction
The aim of this paper is to analyze the epidemiology of Obesity and Overweight (O&O)
which has become a global epidemic. The paper will first discuss the global epidemiology, and
then focus specifically on the O&O in Australia. Further, an-depth analysis of the prevalence of
O&O would be provided which will look at the prevalence in both sexes and across ages. Lastly,
the paper will analyze the O&O burden of disease in Australia, and its contribution to the burden
of other diseases.
Epidemiology
The recent Global Burden of Disease (GBD) analysis reported that the global status of
O&O is deteriorating in different nations.(1) The study assembled data from 195 countries and
analyzed O&O in relation to its associated morbidity as well as mortality. This study found O&O
prevalence is going past the double results of the last analysis of 1980 which revealed the
prevalence as 5% in children and 12% in adults.(1) According to the World Heald Organization,
the cases of O&O have tripled since 1975.(2) The analysis reports that the number of O&O
adults was exceeding the 1.9 billion (above 8 years) calculated in 2016. There were 41 million
children aged below 5 years who were overweight or obese, and those aged between 5-19 were
over 340 million.
The 2011–2014 US survey presented the prevalence of obese as (40.2%) in adults
between 40 to 59, (37.0%) in adults aged 60 and above, (32.3%) in younger adults between 20 to
39, (17.0%) youths, (20.5%) adolescents between 12 to19 years, (17.5%) children between 6
to11 years, and (8.9%) children between 2 to 5 years.(3) Globally, the uppermost prevalence of
world’s obesity was seen in Pacific Islands while the low rates were found in Asia.(4) The

Obesity and Overweight 2
prevalence in North American and Europe countries is largely high while both the Middle East
and Africa showed varying rates.(4)
Obesity develops as a result of an imbalance between energy usage and its intake.(5) The
imbalance leads to accumulation of fats leading to several health problems. Excess body fat
causes a risk of heart disease, gallbladder, liver disease, diabetes, cancer and arthritis among
others.(5) Obesity is believed to be mainly caused by high intake of energy rich foods with
decreased physical activities. Other causes may include hypothalamic, genetic disorders and of
endocrine.(6) People are regarded as obese if their body weight pass 20% of the ideal weight.
The body mass index (BMI) is the standard criteria for measuring cases of overweight and
underweight.(5) The standard level is capped at 25 kg/m2 while being obese is any BMI past 30
kg/m2.(5)
Prevalence of overweight and obesity in Australia
Australian defines obesity as a body mass index (BMI) starting from 30 kg/m2 and above
(7). A detailed conclusion has never been available due to lack of comparability in the survey
methodologies which has also causes difficulties among researchers in coming up perfect
summaries on the O&O prevalence in Australia.(8) The state of Australia has not yet got a
systematic population health monitoring that can cover all ages and localities(8). In connection
with this, there has been a confusion of the understanding of the O&O health challenges.
The most recent report demonstrating the status of Australia on the prevalence of obesity
is the National Health Survey conducted in 2015 (7). This survey shows that there were 63%
Australian adults who were living with O&O, and about a half (28%) of this number were obese.
(7) This report also showed that the number of obese men was greater than that of women.

Obesity and Overweight 3
Looking at the data per state, the study showed a slight difference among states. For instance,
Tasmania recorded the highest number of O&O 32.3% and those who were obese were 67.5%.
(7) The Northern Sydney recorded the lowest number of O&O 53.4%. Neither sex had an obesity
prevalence that was consistently higher than the other across the age groups. The recording for
the prevalence of O&O in children showed that a total of 27% of children in Australian aged 5-
17 years were O&O. Among these, 7% were obese. Also, this prevalence seemed to vary across
different states.
Population at Risk
A summary report on obesity in Australia showed that the disadvantaged groups are at
the highest risk of obesity.(9) The report showed that the prevalence of obesity in women living
in most disadvantage areas were (63.8%) compared (47.7%) for those least disadvantaged.(9)
The number of men reflected the same trend as 69.0% and 68.6% respectively.(9) Going by this
report, the levels of O&O were increasing estimated to reach 83% in men and 75% by 2025. This
number would be equivalent to 16.9 million Australians. The report also showed that lower
socioeconomic groups are now the most likely to affected than the well up group.(9)
The same trend is also reflected in the latest Australian survey.(7) Children and
adolescents within remote areas were seen likely to be O&O than those within major cities.(7)
The Australian National survey showed the same trend. For instance, the report showed that 33%
of the boys within the lowest socioeconomic groups were O&O while those at the socioeconomic
group were 22%. For girls, the data reflected the same trend as 38% and 24% respectively.(7)
The study of Thuber et al (10) also found a substantial relationship between excess
prevalence of obesity and sociodemographic factors which this study associated with difference

Obesity and Overweight 4
in physical activities, screen times, remoteness, education, and area-level disadvantage. This
study suggest a target on socioeconomic and health behavior factors to promote healthy BMI.
(10) While the study of Zufikar et al (11) argues that there could be other contributor except
socioeconomic factors, this study still found that O&O prevalence increased consistently with
the ages of the participants in low‐and‐middle‐income countries.
Burden Imposed
In Australia, the 2015 study recorded fatal burden estimates to be 17 disease groups and
about 200 detailed diseases and injuries.(12). Out of these, the O&O poses a 7% disease burden,
and 63% of this is the fatal cases.(7) An extension of the 2015 study showed that 7.3% men
recorded a greater burden of disease in O&O than the women 6.6% recorded for women.(13)
The report stated that the higher burden in men than women can be due to higher prevalence of
O&O reported in men than on women. (13)
Importance of obesity and overweight to the Overall Burden chronic diseases in
Australia
Despite O&O burden being at 7%, O&O is also attributed to the burden on other
diseases. For instance, the national survey (7) reports that 53% of the cases of diabetes were
caused by O&O. The same cases were reflected on the osteoarthritis as O&O being attributed to
the 45% of osteoarthritis cases. From the past studies and statistics, it is possible to make an
inference that the burden of most of the chronic diseases has something to do with O&O. Taking
diabetes as an example, some studies have proved that an early occurrence of obesity has higher
chances of causing the development of incidences of type 1 and 2 diabetes due to increased
weight and body mass.(14) Similarly, O&O has been found to be a major contributor to the

Obesity and Overweight 5
rising incidences hypertension and cardiovascular diseases.(15) O&O has also been found to be a
major risk factor for chronic kidney diseases.(7,16). In overall, the Australian National
Survey(7) reports that O&O is attributed to about 38% of the cardiovascular burden of diseases.
In this group, there were 27% cases of coronary heart disease, 10% cases of stroke, 17% cases of
diabetes 12% cases of osteoarthritis, and 5% cases of chronic kidney diseases. The great number
of these diseases was linked to O&O.
Conclusion
The aim of this paper was to analyze the issue of obesity and overweight epidemiology.
The paper found that O&O is a global issue that has affected all states. Studies across different
states have shown that there is a higher prevalence of O&O and this number is also increasing. In
Australia, the prevalence of O&O is distributed across different ages and sexes. These studies
highlight that males have a higher prevalence than men. The paper recommends that states
should come up with practical policies and interventions aimed at combating the increasing
number of cases of O&O. As the highest risk factor is high energy intake with less physical
activities, government should come up with strategies that would aim at increasing physical
activities across all ages. For example, public health and social care programmes can encourage
to minimize transportation of children to school where there are short distances between home
and schools. Adults can also get accustomed to walking or riding to their work places instead of
always using vehicles for transport.

Obesity and Overweight 6
References
1. GBD 2015 Obesity Collaborators. Health Effects of Overweight and Obesity in 195
Countries over 25 Years. N Engl J Med [Internet]. 2017 Jun 12 [cited 2018 May 19];
Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5477817/
2. World Health Organization. Obesity and overweight [Internet]. World Health Organization.
2017 [cited 2018 May 19]. Available from:
http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight
3. Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Fryar CD, Flegal KM. Prevalence of obesity among adults and
youth: United States, 2011-2014. US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics; 2015.
4. Dillinger J. The Most Obese Countries In The World [Internet]. WorldAtlas. 2018 [cited
2018 May 20]. Available from: https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/29-most-obese-
countries-in-the-world.html
5. Pi-Sunyer X. The Medical Risks of Obesity. Postgrad Med. 2009 Nov;121(6):21–33.
6. Lloyd RV. Endocrine Pathology:: Differential Diagnosis and Molecular Advances. 2nd ed.
Springer New York; 2010. (SpringerLink : Bücher).
7. Australian Bureau of Statistics. National Health Survey : first results, Australia 2014-15
[Internet]. [Canberra, A.CT.] : Australian Bureau of Statistics; 2015 [cited 2018 May 20].
Available from: https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/226307518
8. Huse O, Hettiarachchi J, Gearon E, Nichols M, Allender S, Peeters A. Obesity in Australia.
Obesity Research & Clinical Practice. 2018 Jan;12(1):29–39.
9. VicHealth. Disadvantaged Australians most at risk of obesity [Internet]. 2014 [cited 2018
May 21]. Available from: https://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/media-and-resources/media-
releases/disadvantaged-australians-most-at-risk-of-obesity
10. Thurber KA, Joshy G, Korda R, Eades SJ, Wade V, Bambrick H, et al. Obesity and its
association with sociodemographic factors, health behaviours and health status among
Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal adults in New South Wales, Australia. J Epidemiol
Community Health. 2018 Mar 7;jech-2017-210064.
11. Zulfiqar T, Strazdins L, Banwell C, Dinh H, D’Este C. Growing up in Australia: paradox of
overweight/obesity in children of immigrants from low-and-middle -income countries.
Obesity Science & Practice. 2018 Apr 1;4(2):178–87.
12. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Australian Burden of Disease Study 2015: fatal
burden preliminary estimates , Summary [Internet]. Australian Institute of Health and
Welfare. [cited 2018 May 21]. Available from: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/burden-of-
disease/fatal-burden-2015-preliminary-estimates/contents/summary

Obesity and Overweight 7
13. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Impact of overweight and obesity as a risk
factor for chronic conditions, Table of contents [Internet]. 2017 [cited 2018 May 21].
Available from: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/burden-of-disease/impact-of-overweight-
and-obesity-as-a-risk-factor-for-chronic-conditions/contents/table-of-contents
14. Al-Goblan AS, Al-Alfi MA, Khan MZ. Mechanism linking diabetes mellitus and obesity.
Diabetes Metab Syndr Obes. 2014 Dec 4;7:587–91.
15. Livingstone KM, McNaughton SA. Dietary patterns by reduced rank regression are
associated with obesity and hypertension in Australian adults. British Journal of Nutrition.
2017 Jan;117(2):248–59.
16. Chung H-F, Al Mamun A, Huang M-C, Long KZ, Huang Y-F, Shin S-J, et al. Obesity,
weight change, and chronic kidney disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: A
longitudinal study in Taiwan. J Diabetes. 2017 Nov;9(11):983–93.