Indicator: 11 - Youth Obesity

Why This Is Important

Persons who are overweight in adolescence are at greater risk of being overweight as adults, and adults who are overweight are at higher risk of numerous health problems including hypertension, coronary heart disease, gallbladder disease, non-B insulin dependent diabetes, and some cancers. In the United States, the percentage of children ages 6 through 17 who are overweight has increased more than twofold since the 1960's, with the largest increase in the 1980's.

Where We Stand

Maine and national data from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) for 1995 through 1999 show that nearly one-third of middle and high school students report they are slightly or very overweight, with the percentage being slightly higher for Maine students. Maine data for 2001 is similar; 32.8 % of high school and 28.7% of middle school students reported they are overweight. Year 2001 data for the nation is not yet available.

A higher percentage of girls than of boys typically reports being overweight. For example, 36% of the girls in the 1999 national survey sample said that they were to some degree overweight, compared to 24% of the boys. Similarly, in the 2001 Maine survey 31% of middle school girls and 40% of high school girls in the sample believed they were overweight; only 26% of the boys in middle and high schools said this.

Of course, students may believe they are overweight when they are not. A more objective measure of weight problems is a young person's body mass index (BMI). Experts agree that children with a BMI at or above the 95th percentile of the sex-specific BMI growth charts can be categorized as overweight. Using this definition, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey showed 13% of children and adolescents were overweight nationally in 1999 (see "Prevalence of Overweight Among Children and Adolescents: United States, 1999", available at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/hetstats/overwght99.htm). The 2001 YRBS for Maine revealed that 11% of middle school and 10% of high school students were overweight. A higher percentage of Maine boys than girls fell into this category (15% versus 7% in middle school, and 15% versus 6% in high school), despite the fact that girls are more likely to see themselves as overweight.

Data Sources and Context

Data in the chart comes from the Maine Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), Maine Department of Education. The data source is the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System maintained by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Data from the Maine YRBS is available on-line at http://www.mainecshp.com/survey.html. National YRBS figures can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/yrbs/index.htm.

*Important Note: YRBS data is gathered every two years using a questionnaire administered to a sample of students in Maine and nationally. When the Maine YRBS survey has an overall response rate of 60% or higher, the CDC statistically weights the results so that the numbers can be generalized to all public school students in the state in grades 9-12. When the overall response rate is below 60%, the CDC does not perform such statistical weighting, and the data apply only to the students who actually filled out the questionnaires. Maine's YRBS data for 1999 was unweighted, so information from that year cannot be compared reliably with data from 1995, 1997 and 2001.