S U P P L E M E N T
R e v i e w
Epidemiology of Obesity in the Western Hemisphere
Earl S. Ford and Ali H. Mokdad
Division of Adult and Community Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia 30341
Context: Obesity has emerged as a global public health challenge. The objective of this review was
to examine epidemiological aspects of obesity in the Western Hemisphere.
Evidence Acquisition: Using PubMed, we searched for publications about obesity (prevalence,
trends, correlates, economic costs) in countries in North America, Central America, South America,
and the Caribbean. To the extent possible, we focused on studies that were primarily population
based in design and on four countries in the Western Hemisphere: Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and the
United States.
Evidence Synthesis: Data compiled by the International Obesity Task Force show a substantial level
of obesity in all of or selected areas of the Bahamas, Barbados, Canada, Chile, Guyana, Mexico,
Panama, Paraguay, Peru, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States, and Venezuela. Furthermore, countries such as Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and the United States have experienced increases in the prevalence of obesity. In many countries, the prevalence of obesity is higher among
women than men and in urban areas than in rural areas. The relationship between socioeconomic
status and obesity depends on the stage of economic transition. Early in the transition, the prevalence of obesity is positively related to income whereas at some point during the transition the
prevalence becomes inversely related to income.
Conclusions: Like other countries in the Western Hemisphere, the four countries that we focused
on have experienced a rising tide of obesity. The high and increasing prevalence of obesity and its
attendant comorbidities are likely to pose a serious challenge to the public health and medical care
systems in these countries. (J Clin Endocrinol Metab 93: S1–S8, 2008)
A
s the global embrace of obesity has become evident, concern
about this development has heightened (1–14). At least 1
billion people worldwide are thought to be overweight or obese
关body mass index (BMI) ⱖ25 kg/m2 兴 and at least 300 million
people are thought to be obese (body mass index ⱖ30 kg/m2)
(15). Although obesity was initially most visible in developed
countries, principally the United States, it gained traction in
many developing countries during a time when concern about
malnutrition remained dominant. As developing countries have
become wealthier, adopted increasingly Westernized lifestyles
characterized by increases in energy intake and reductions in
energy expenditure and witnessed massive migration from rural
to urban areas, obesity inevitably followed in the wake of these
developments. Because obesity has been linked to numerous
chronic conditions and is costly to societies, the specter of in0021-972X/08/$15.00/0
Printed in U.S.A.
creases in the prevalence of obesity carries potentially serious
implications for the future health of populations and health care
expenditures of countries. In this review, we examined epidemiological aspects of obesity in the Western Hemisphere.
Measuring Obesity in Surveys
A variety of techniques have been used to determine obesity (16).
Two commonly used measurements in large scale epidemiologic
studies or population surveys are BMI, which is a general measure of obesity based on weight and height (kilograms per square
meter), and waist circumference, which provides a measure of
abdominal or central obesity (4, 17). Regarding waist circumference, thresholds recommended by the International Diabetes
Federation can be used to define abdominal obesity (18).
Abbreviations: BMI, Body mass index; IOTF, International Obesity Task Force; NHANES,
National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys.
Copyright © 2008 by The Endocrine Society
doi: 10.1210/jc.2008-1356 Received June 25, 2008. Accepted September 2, 2008.
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Obesity in the Western Hemisphere
The terminology used to define obesity in children and adolescents differs sometimes from that used in adults. Previously
the term “at risk for overweight” was used to denote a BMI at the
85th percentile or greater based on age and gender, and overweight was used to denote a BMI at the 95th percentile. Currently the term overweight is used for a BMI at the 85th percentile
or greater and obesity for a BMI at the 95th percentile or greater.
Because BMI changes as children and adolescents grow, the determination of overweight and obesity is done taking their age
and gender into account. Two approaches to determining overweight and obesity from BMI in children and adolescents are
currently used. One approach was developed by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2000 (19) and the
second approach by the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF)
(20). Thus, estimates of the prevalence of overweight and obesity
may differ, depending on which standard was used. In addition,
other reference values, including country-specific norms, have
been used as well, especially in publications before 2000 (21).
Measurements of waist circumference are becoming more popular as a way to assess abdominal or central obesity in children
and adolescents and also allow the calculation of ratios such as
the waist to height ratio.
In this review, much of the information about obesity among
adults rests on the use of BMI to define obesity, which will be
defined as a BMI 30 kg/m2 or greater unless otherwise stated.
Among children and adolescents, the information about overweight (BMI ⱖ 85th to ⬍95th percentile) and obesity (BMI ⱖ
95th percentile) that we present in this article will also be mostly
based on estimates of BMI. In addition, it should be assumed that
the calculation of BMI will have been based on measured height
and weight unless otherwise stated.
Literature Search
We searched for published articles in PubMed by doing title and
abstract searches for the terms “obesity” and the name of specific
countries or the terms Latin America, Central America, or Caribbean. In addition, we reviewed references of retrieved articles
for additional articles of interest. We focused primarily on articles that included studies that were population based or included
large numbers of participants. We looked for articles that addressed the following aspects of obesity: prevalence, correlates,
trends, and economic costs. Furthermore, we searched the web
site of the IOTF for information concerning the prevalence of
obesity of countries in the Western Hemisphere. Because of space
limitations, we focused our discussion of obesity on the four large
countries in the Western Hemisphere: the United States, Canada,
Brazil, and Mexico.
Geographic Variation
Considerable variation in the prevalence of overweight and obesity occurs among and within countries of the Western Hemisphere (Table 1) (22–25). However, comparisons of these data
are complicated by the differences in year of data collection, age
J Clin Endocrinol Metab, November 2008, 93(11):S1–S8
range of the population studied, and location of data collection
(urban, rural, nationally representative). Estimates of the prevalence of obesity for men and women combined ranged from
16.8% in Trinidad and Tobago in 1999 to 34.7% in Panama in
2000. Data compiled by the IOTF show that obesity exceeds
20% among men or women in the Bahamas, Barbados, Canada,
Chile, Guyana, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, St. Lucia,
Trinidad and Tobago, the United States, and Venezuela. For the
majority of countries in which gender-specific information was
available, the prevalence of obesity among women exceeds that
among men. A study of noninstitutionalized residents aged 60 yr
or older of seven Latin American or Caribbean cities found considerable variation in the prevalence of obesity with a low of
13.1% in Havana, Cuba, to a high of 33.0% in Montevideo,
Uruguay (26). A recent publication illustrates the intercountry
differences in overweight and obesity in Latin America (24). In
Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and several Caribbean countries including the Dominican Republic, the prevalence of overweight and obesity was 50% or greater during the period
2000 –2005.
United States
Adults
The temporal and geographic spread of obesity in the United
States has been well documented (27– 43). Data from the National Health Examination Survey (1960) and National Health
and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) (1971–1975
and 1976 –1980) provided some of the earliest indications that
obesity was increasing in the United States population, initially
among white and African-American adult women (27). A subsequent examination of national data through 1991 confirmed
that significant increases in the United States population had
taken place both in adults (28) and children and adolescents (29).
Subsequent analyses of national data have documented the continued growth in the prevalence of obesity among children, adolescents, and adults in the United States. The most recent data
from 2005–2006 show that 33.3% of men and 35.3% of women
were obese (Fig. 1) (44). An analysis of data from NHANES
showed that the prevalence of class III morbidity or morbid obesity had also increased from 0.8% during the period 1988 –1994
to 2.2% during the period 1999 –2000 (45). The increases in
obesity defined on the basis of BMI have been matched by increases in abdominal obesity (36, 37, 39, 43).
Data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System
provided an unique opportunity to document the geographic
spread of obesity throughout the United States (Fig. 2) (31, 32,
35). Height and weight are self-reported in these surveys. The
epidemic started primarily in the south before spreading to all
other part of the country.
The direct and indirect costs of obesity in the United States
were estimated to be $117 billion in 2000 (46).
Children and adolescents
One of the earliest reports to raise concern about a possible
increase in the prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents in the United States emanated from the Bogalusa study
J Clin Endocrinol Metab, November 2008, 93(11):S1–S8
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TABLE 1. Prevalence of obesity in selected countries in the Western Hemisphere
Males (%)
Country
North America
Canada
United States
Central America
Guatemala
Honduras
Mexico
Panama
South America
Argentina
Bolivia
Brazil
Chile
Colombia
Guyana
Paraguay
Peru
Uruguay: self-report
Venezuela
Caribbean
Bahamas
Barbados
Cuba
Dominican Republic
St. Lucia
Trinidad and Tobago
Year of
data
collection
Females (%)
Combined (%)
Overweight
Obese
Overweight
Obese
Overweight
Obese
Sample
size
Age
category
BMI 25–29.9
kg/m2
BMI > 30
kg/m2
BMI 25–29.9
kg/m2
BMI > 30
kg/m2
BMI 25–29.9
kg/m2
BMI > 30
kg/m2
2004
2003–2004
12,428
18⫹
20⫹
42.0
39.7
22.9
31.1
30.2
28.6
23.2
33.2
36.1
34.1
23.1
32.2
1998 –1999
1996
2006
2000
2318
885
32221
875
18 – 49
15– 49
ⱖ20
15–93
42.5
30.9
24.4
27.9
33.4
23.8
37.4
33.4
14
7.8
34.5
36.1
32.7
34.7
2003
1998
2001
1100
3857
1252
3120
3070
1315
1606
2337
900
669
18 – 65
15– 49
20 – 64
25– 64
15– 49
ⱖ20
20 –74
18 – 60
ⱖ18
ⱖ30
24.6
19.5
18.5
10.7
15.7
17.5
11.2
13.8
23.0
10.5
26.9
35.7
23.0
18
17.4
31.2
10.8
35.2
29.2
1771
15– 64
4197
6178
1084
803
20 – 64
18 –74
25–74
ⱖ20
2000
2000
1991–1992
1998 –2000
1998
1997
1988 –1989
1991
1998
1996 –1998
1991–1994
1999
26
41.6
44.0
40
14.3
22.9
16.0
17
29.1
15
25.1
13.9
10
7.1
16.4
8.4
10.7
29.6
30.3
30.7
36.1
40.0
30
25.6
28
26.7
32.6
28
31
10.2
18.3
28.7
21.1
19.7
29
22.4
34
17
21.2
27.3
21.3
31.4
16.4
19.5
16.8
Source: International Obesity Task Force (http://www.iotf.org/database/documents/GlobalPrevalenceofAdultObesityMarch08v4pdf.pdf).
(47). The authors described increases in mean ponderal index
(kilograms per cubic meter) among white and African-American
children aged 5–14 yr from the period 1973–1974 (n ⫽ 3509) to
1984 –1985 (n ⫽ 2576). The prevalence of overweight defined as
the 85th percentile at the baseline examination increased from 15
to 24%. Next, an analysis of data from the Pediatric Nutrition
Surveillance System found that, between 1980 and 1991, the
prevalence of overweight (weight for height ⬎ 95th percentile)
among children younger than 2 yr old had increased among
Hispanic and Asian children but not among white, AfricanAmerican, and Native American children (48). National data
showed that, from 1963–1965 to 1988 –1991 (n ⫽ 2920), the
prevalence of obesity (BMI ⱖ 95th percentile) increased substantially among children aged 6 –17 yr (29). Particularly note-
FIG. 1. Trend in unadjusted prevalence (percent) of obesity (BMI ⱖ 30 kg/m2) among U.S. adults aged 20 yr or older, NHANES 1999–2000 to 2005–2006 (Sources: Refs. 40, 44).
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Obesity in the Western Hemisphere
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FIG. 2. Trends in the prevalence of obesity (BMI ⱖ 30 kg/m2) among U.S. adults aged 18 yr or older, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS).
worthy were the increases among African-American males aged
6 –11 yr (from 2.0 to 13.4%), African-American females aged
6 –11 yr (from 5.3 to 16.2%), white males aged 12–17 yr (from
5.4 to 14.4%), and African-American males aged 12–17 yr (from
3.7 to 9.4%). Subsequent studies showed the continued escalation of the prevalence of obesity (34, 40, 49). For the period
2003–2006, the prevalence of obesity was 16.3% for participants aged 2–19 yr (17.1% among males and 15.5% among
females) (49). The prevalence of obesity was 14.6% among
whites (males 15.6%, females 13.6%), 20.7% among AfricanAmericans (males 17.4%, females 24.1%), and 20.9% among
Mexican-Americans (males 23.2%, females 18.5%).
Concurrent with the increases in BMI, increases in abdominal
obesity occurred in children as well (41, 42). Thus, the prevalence
of abdominal obesity (ⱖ90th gender and age specific percentile)
increased from 10.5% (n ⫽ 5168) during 1988 –1994 to 19.4%
(n ⫽ 1959) during 2003–2004 among males aged 2–19 yr and
from 10.5% (n ⫽ 5342) to 18.5% (n ⫽ 1916) among females
(41). In addition, the prevalence of having a waist to height ratio
0.5 or greater increased from 19.3 to 32.1% among males aged
6 –19 yr and from 21.5 to 37.7% among females aged 6 –19 yr
during this period (41).
women. Analyses of data from 1970 –1972 to 1986 –1992 found
that the prevalence of obesity increased from 13.4 to 21.5% among
people with a primary education, from 5.8 to 12.8% among people
with a secondary education and from 4.1 to 8.2% among people
with postsecondary education (52). Some studies have described a
high prevalence of obesity among Canadian Aboriginal populations (53–55). Studies that included 2545 Inuit participants aged 18
yr or older between 1990 and 2001 found that 15.8% of men and
25.5% of women were obese (55). Based on data from several
studies conducted during the late 1980s and early 1990s, the prevalence of obesity among 1180 Oji-Cree Indians was 36.3% (54).
Geographic differences in the prevalence of obesity have also been
demonstrated in Canada (56 –59).
Estimates of direct medical and indirect economic costs in
2001 were $1.6 billion and $2.7 billion, respectively, which represented about 2.2% of total health care expenditures (60).
Children and adolescents
The prevalence of obesity among children aged 7–13 yr increased from 5% in boys in 1981 to 13.5% in 1996 and from 5%
in girls to 11.8% in girls (61). Estimates for 1981 were based on
measured height and weight in 2038 children, whereas data for
1996 were based on parental reports of 8539 children.
Canada
Adults
The age-adjusted prevalence of obesity among adults aged 20
yr or older increased from 10.4% (n ⫽ 10,103) during the early
1970s to 22.7% (n ⫽ 18,668) in 2004 (50). The prevalence of
class III obesity increased from 0.4% in 1990 to 1.3% in 2003
(51). Increases occurred in all age groups and among men and
Brazil
Adults
With a population of about 186 million, Brazil is the most
populous nation in Latin America. The country has undergone a
rapid economic expansion. Like many other countries, the prevalence of obesity has increased substantially as shown by three
J Clin Endocrinol Metab, November 2008, 93(11):S1–S8
national surveys conducted in Brazil during 1974 –1975 (n ⫽
124274), 1989 (n ⫽ 32651), and 2002–2003 (n ⫽ 106809).
Mean BMI increased by 1.2 kg/m2 among men and by 1.7 kg/m2
among women (62). The prevalence of obesity increased from
2.7% during 1974 –1975 to 8.8% during 2002–2003 in men and
from 7.4 to 13.0% in women. The prevalence increased across
all quintiles of family income. The positive gradient between
family income and prevalence of obesity among men that existed
during 1974 –1975 remained intact during 2002–2003. Among
women, however, the positive income gradient observed for the
1974 –1975 data were more or less absent in the 2002–2003
data. An earlier analysis of the 1989 data had shown significant
regional variation in the prevalence of overweight or obesity with
the lowest prevalence present in the northeastern part of Brazil
and the highest prevalence in the southern part of Brazil (63).
This same analysis also showed that overweight was related to
age in a nonlinear fashion, was higher among women than men,
increased with income, and was higher in urban than rural areas.
Although the total costs of obesity in Brazil remain unknown,
the estimated costs of obesity among adults aged 20 – 60 yr in
2001 were 1.08% of total hospitalization costs among men and
3.07% among women (64).
Children and adolescents
Brazilian children and adolescents aged 6 –18 yr also exhibited large increases in the prevalence of overweight and obesity
defined using the IOTF standards (65). From 1974 –1975 (n ⫽
56,295) to 1996 –1997 (n ⫽ 4,875), the prevalence increased
from 2.9 to 13.1% among males and from 5.3 to 14.8% among
females. Using British reference values for the 98th percentile of
waist circumference, 13.4% of 1501 boys and 10.1% of 1418
girls aged 7–10 yr from the city of Florianopolis had central
adiposity (66). In a Brazilian study of 4452 adolescents aged
10 –12 yr, short sleep duration and the amount of television
viewing were both significantly associated with obesity (67).
Mexico
Concern about the emergence of an epidemic of obesity in
Mexico has erupted in the last decade. With a population of
almost 110 million people, Mexico has the third largest population in the Western Hemisphere.
Adults
Among Mexican women aged 15– 49 yr, the prevalence of
obesity in 1987 (National Nutrition Survey) was 10.4% (22). An
analysis of data of participants aged 20 – 69 yr from the National
Survey of Chronic Diseases, conducted in urban populations
during 1992–1993, showed that 14.9% of 5930 men and 25.1%
of 8462 women were obese (68). A study conducted in 1999 in
Mexico City, Hermosillo, Ciudad Juarez, Guadalajara, Veracruz, Puebla, Leon, and Merida included 567 men and 1018
women (69). The prevalence of obesity was 31.7% among men
and 26.7% among women underscoring the high prevalence of
obesity among Mexicans living in urban centers. In 1988, 9.4%
of 12,138 women aged 18 – 49 yr were obese compared with
24.4% of 13,887 women in 1999 (70, 71). Furthermore, geographic variation in the prevalence of obesity occurred with the
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highest prevalence found in northern Mexico and the lowest in
southern Mexico (70). Data from the 2000 National Health Survey showed that 20.4% of 13,385 men and 30.2% of 29415
women were obese (72). A study conducted during 2001 to 2002
in Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla, Leon, and Tijuana found that the prevalence of obesity was 53.6% among
140,017 participants aged 18 –100 yr (73). This study was not
designed to be representative of the populations of the six cities.
Recent data from the 2006 Encuesta Nacional de Salud y Nutricion found that the prevalence of obesity among 33,624 adults
aged 20 yr or older was 24.2% in men and 34.5% in women (74).
The prevalence among women is similar to the prevalence of
35.3% reported among women aged 20 yr or older from the
United States. The prevalence increased from 16.9% among men
aged 20 –29 yr to 32.1% among men aged 50 to 59 yr and then
decreased to 9.0% among men aged 80 yr or older. Among
women, the prevalence increased from 20.5% among those aged
20 to 29 yr to 44.3% among those aged 50 –59 yr and then
declined to 16.3% among those aged 80 yr or older. Thus, the
prevalence of obesity increased by about 4% among adults from
2000 to 2006.
The results from the various studies conducted in Mexico
suggest that the prevalence of obesity among adults in Mexico
has increased appreciably. Data from the National Nutrition
Surveys of 1988 and 1999 showed that the prevalence of obesity
increased tremendously among women aged 18 – 49 yr. Furthermore, national surveys from 2000 and 2006 show that the prevalence of obesity increased among men and women aged 20 yr or
older. Although the long-term trend is not clear for all sociodemographic groups, the inescapable conclusion is that Mexican
adults saw a dramatic increase in obesity from the late 1980s to
the present. Current levels of obesity among adult Mexican
women rival those of U.S. women but remain lower than those
of Mexican-American women.
Children and adolescents
A large study of 6784 students aged 8 –20 yr conducted during 1996 –1999 in metropolitan Mexico City noted that the prevalence of obesity was 6.6% by IOTF standards and 9.7% by
CDC standards (75). In a survey of adolescents aged 11–19 yr
conducted during 1998 –1999 in the state of Morelos, the prevalence of obesity defined using CDC standards was 11% among
3670 males and 9% among 6867 females (76). Obesity was
higher among those of higher socioeconomic status and in urban
areas than rural areas, especially among males. Among both
genders, age and years of education were positively associated
with BMI, whereas smoking, vitamin use, and participation in
sports were inversely associated with BMI. Among Mexican
males, socioeconomic status, television viewing, and urban residence were positively associated with BMI. Data from the National Nutrition Survey in 1999 found that 5.3% of 8011 children aged younger than 5 yr were overweight (z-score for weight
for length ⬎2 SD) (71). In 1988, 4.2% of children aged younger
than 5 yr were considered overweight. The highest prevalence
(7.2%) was found in the northern part of Mexico. Furthermore,
the prevalence was higher in urban areas (5.9%) than rural areas
(4.6%). Among 11,415 children aged 5–11 yr, 19.5% were over-
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Obesity in the Western Hemisphere
weight or obese (IOTF criteria). Children in Mexico City
(26.6%) and the northern part of Mexico (25.6%) were more
likely to be overweight or obese than those in the southern part
of the country (14.3%). Children living in urban areas (22.9%)
were also more likely to be overweight or obese than children
living in rural areas (11.7%). The National Health Survey conducted in 2000 found that the prevalence of obesity based on
CDC criteria ranged from 6.8 to 10.6% in 8947 females aged
10 –17 yr and 9.2 to 14.7% in 7862 males aged 10 –17 yr (77).
Using IOTF criteria, the prevalence of obesity ranged from 6.1 to
9.0% among males and from 5.9 to 8.2% among females. In a
survey of 2690 males and females aged 6 –12 yr residing in Tijuana and Enseneda, extreme obesity (ⱖ99th percentile) occurred among 5.2% of participants, 6.3% of males, and 4.1% of
females (78). In another study of 1172 schoolchildren aged 6 –13
yr in Tijuana during 2001–2002, 23.2% of males and 21.7% of
females were obese (ⱖ95th percentile) (79).
Summary
Our overview indicates that the prevalence of obesity has increased in Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Furthermore, researchers have summarized other information that
indicates that the prevalence of obesity or combined overweight
and obesity has increased in other countries as well (23, 24).
Although the prevalence of obesity appears to be highest in the
United States, that of other countries such as Mexico is not far
behind. In fact, the prevalence of obesity among adult women in
Mexico in 2006 is very similar to that of women in the United
States during 2005–2006. Countries such as Brazil and Mexico
have experienced rapid economic growth, which has catapulted
their countries into demographic, nutritional, and epidemiologic
transitions. With the rapid economic expansion and migration
from rural to urban areas, many citizens of countries with emerging economies have adopted and are increasingly adopting Western lifestyle habits that are in part characterized by sedentary
lifestyles and excessive intake of energy. Whereas malnutrition
was a serious concern in many countries not long ago, obesity has
now emerged as a major public health concern. With the increasing prevalence of obesity, these countries can expect to see increases in obesity-related comorbidities such as diabetes and hypertension that will put additional pressure on health budgets.
The specific factors leading to the increases in obesity in other
countries in the Western Hemisphere have not been well established but are likely to be similar to those in the United States. The
many forces shaping the global obesity epidemic have received
ample attention (1, 10, 11, 13, 80 – 83). At a fundamental level,
an imbalance between energy intake and expenditure is the root
cause of obesity. However, the personal, familial, social, societal,
cultural, governmental, and environmental factors that affect
this energy imbalance are complicated and may vary among
countries. Numerous reviews have examined different facets of
the prevention and treatment of obesity in adults (84 –93) and
children (94 –102). A recurrent theme in these reviews is the need
for a stronger evidence base to support recommendations (103).
Because the mix of factors that promote obesity are likely to
J Clin Endocrinol Metab, November 2008, 93(11):S1–S8
differ, the solutions to deal with the obesity epidemic are likely
to be multifactorial and may have to be tailored to each country.
A broad range of policy initiatives aimed at reducing obesity
among children and adults have been presented (12, 13, 80,
104 –115).
At a time when many developing countries in the Western
Hemisphere are undergoing rapid economic growth, they are
simultaneously experiencing a declining legacy of malnutrition
and infectious diseases as well as a rising tide of obesity and
obesity-associated comorbidities. As these countries navigate
through these turbulent transition periods, surveillance can provide critical feedback to help understand the scale of the dimensions and trajectories of the twin public health burdens and can
provide a foundation for estimating the need for critical resources to deliver to the populations, planning for changing paradigms in their health infrastructure, and planning appropriate
interventions targeted to the right population segments. Therefore, developing or enhancing surveillance capabilities where
needed and dedicating the resources to support quality surveillance efforts are key to providing the timely information fundamental to generating an appropriate public health response. As
the prevalence of obesity rises, so will the economic costs associated with this condition, yet only a few countries in the Western
Hemisphere have attempted to estimate the economic costs attributable to obesity. In the future, as countries collect more and
better data about obesity and its ramifications, estimating the
public health burden of obesity and its economic costs can provide important insights to spur the development of comprehensive responses to this emerging public health challenge. Because
obesity is gaining critical mass in many nations, there may be
commonalities in experience and a need for solutions that may
allow nations to benefit from regional approaches to the prevention of obesity.
Acknowledgments
Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Earl Ford, M.D.,
M.P.H., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Highway, MS K66, Atlanta, Georgia 30341. E-mail: [email protected].
Disclosure Statement: The findings and conclusions in this article are
those of the authors and do not represent the official position of the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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