Health effects of overweight and obesity in 195 countries over 25 years

Authors

Ashkan Afshin, University of Washington
Mohammad H. Forouzanfar, University of Washington
Marissa B. Reitsma, University of Washington
Patrick Sur, University of Washington
Kara Estep, University of Washington
Alex Lee, University of Washington
Laurie Marczak, University of Washington
Ali H. Mokdad, University of Washington
Maziar Moradi-Lakeh, University of Washington
Mohsen Naghavi, University of Washington
Joseph S. Salama, University of Washington
Theo Vos, University of Washington
Kalkidan H. Abate, Jimma University
Cristiana Abbafati, Sapienza Università di Roma
Muktar B. Ahmed, Jimma University
Ziyad Al-Aly, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
Ala'a Alkerwi, Luxembourg Institute of Health
Rajaa Al-Raddadi, Joint Program of Family and Community Medicine
Azmeraw T. Amare, Bahar Dar University
Alemayehu Amberbir, Dignitas International
Adeladza K. Amegah, University of Cape Coast Ghana
Erfan Amini, Uro-Oncology Research Center
Stephen M. Amrock, Oregon Health & Science University
Ranjit M. Anjana, Madras Diabetes Research Foundation
Johan Ärnlöv, Högskolan Dalarna
Hamid Asayesh, Qom University of Medical Sciences and Health Services
Amitava Banerjee, University College London
Aleksandra Barac, Belgrade University School of Medicine
Estifanos Baye, Wollo University
Derrick A. Bennett, University of Oxford Medical Sciences Division
Addisu S. Beyene, Haramaya University
Sibhatu Biadgilign, Independent Public Health Consultants

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-6-2017

Journal

New England Journal of Medicine

Volume

377

Issue

1

First Page

13

Last Page

27

URL with Digital Object Identifier

10.1056/NEJMoa1614362

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Although the rising pandemic of obesity has received major attention in many countries, the effects of this attention on trends and the disease burden of obesity remain uncertain. METHODS: We analyzed data from 68.5 million persons to assess the trends in the prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adults between 1980 and 2015. Using the Global Burden of Disease study data and methods, we also quantified the burden of disease related to high body-mass index (BMI), according to age, sex, cause, and BMI in 195 countries between 1990 and 2015. RESULTS: In 2015, a total of 107.7 million children and 603.7 million adults were obese. Since 1980, the prevalence of obesity has doubled in more than 70 countries and has continuously increased in most other countries. Although the prevalence of obesity among children has been lower than that among adults, the rate of increase in childhood obesity in many countries has been greater than the rate of increase in adult obesity. High BMI accounted for 4.0 million deaths globally, nearly 40% of which occurred in persons who were not obese. More than two thirds of deaths related to high BMI were due to cardiovascular disease. The disease burden related to high BMI has increased since 1990; however, the rate of this increase has been attenuated owing to decreases in underlying rates of death from cardiovascular disease. CONCLUSIONS: The rapid increase in the prevalence and disease burden of elevated BMI highlights the need for continued focus on surveillance of BMI and identification, implementation, and evaluation of evidence-based interventions to address this problem. (Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.)