Epidemiological Analysis of Obesity - Article Example

Epidemiological Analysis of Obesity Obesity has been on the rise since 1980. Its sign includes an increase in body mass index by 25 or greater in adults. In obesity among children, doctors relate the body mass to age. According to statistics, in 2004, there were 33% obese adults (Szabo 2). Teenagers stood at more than 17%. Obesity affects people differently. It affects them according to age, race, or ethnicity. Obesity affects women than men in most cases. The women have different conditions. Obesity affects women according to these conditions. Overweight women relate their condition to factors in their bodies, such as cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular disease only affects the women. Experts attribute to the increase in mortality to increase in the rate of obesity (Szabo 2). The paper is going to study the epidemiological analysis of Obesity. Obesity has risen to the level of epidemic and pandemic proportion. Doctors attribute the rise, to the health behaviours of the population. It is contrary to the efforts that doctors use to concur the disease. The world population is experiencing excess adiposity, which results to exposure to obesity. Furthermore, the health sector is experiencing trends in disease infection. There have been no cardiovascular diseases before two decades ago. The doctors in the past never experienced type II diabetes. The new trends in the health sector relate with the overweight problem. There are certain foods in the current decade that causes an increase in weight. The foods were rare in the past two decades. There were measures in the past decades that prevented weight gain. The current world is lagging behind in preventing the population from gaining weight. The graph below shows how diabetes would be in the next years (Flaneur 5). In the current world, people try very hard to lose weight. They involve medical practitioners in their weight lose, but they lose focus on the way. They return to their normal ways of living, which is risky to their health (Szabo 25). Obesity affects many nations in the world, either poor or rich. The researchers are trying all their best to find a solution. According to statistics, over 500 million people globally are obese. The great percentage of this population is women. They account for 14% while the men are 10%. The percentage is double the one in the last two decades. The rate of obesity in children has been on the rise since 1990. The governments of different countries have to come up with ways that would prevent the rate from rising higher. During the last decades, obesity was the problem of the rich. It had affected most rich countries. Globalisation has been the reason obesity has gone to different countries. The poor countries in the past decades did not have access to the western way of life. Technological development and rise in standards of living has seen the poor countries expose themselves to western world way of life. Traditional foods could not cause obesity. The poor countries shifted from traditional foods to modernised foods. It led to the rising of obesity in these countries. Western system of life has seen obesity becoming a pandemic in the world. Their lifestyle has led to overweight among the people. Overweight conditions among the populations have risen over the past two decades. The governments of different countries saw this as an alarming trend. They set standards that have seen reduce in obesity prevalence. The problem comes when there has been a constant increase in prevalence of severe diabetes. The children too have seen an increase in their weight over the past two decades. According to statistics, 17% of children face the problem of overweight. It was 10% in the last decades (Flaneur 2). The challenges of stabilising obesity prevalence problem come when there are many disparities. The disparities range from race, geographical location to ethnic background. According to statistics, the black Hispanics have a high prevalence to obesity than their white counterparts. The statistics indicate how obesity varies according to race. Researchers indicate that this prevalence has occurred within a very short time. It is an indication that genetics is not the reason for the prevalence. Other factors cause this prevalence. Experts state that the environment is the main reason for the prevalence. The environment determines the energy intake a person takes. The riskiest individuals are the ones that increase their energy expenditure, which expose their bodies to the overweight problem. There are many determinants of obesity. The foods that the human body take are the main determinants. The body requires these foods to create energy. The overweight problem is because of overeating. Doctors point this to poor eating habits. People learn poor eating habits since their childhood. They grow while unaware of the implications of their eating habits. Once the children become adolescents, they remain inactive, and they do not engage in any exercises. The trend continues into their adulthood, and this is a major cause for obesity prevalence (Olli 20). Experts have found it hard to estimate the effects of obesity to the rate of morbidity and mortality. They associate increase in body mass to certain conditions such as hypertension and musculoskeletal disorders. Furthermore, experts relate higher body weights to small percentage increase in mortality, in morbidity. The small percentage comes in the form of cardiovascular mortality. High body mass is not only a negative thing. It sometimes results to strong bone density. Apart from bone density, it also increases hip fracture and reduce chances of contracting osteoporosis. Experts point that the negative effects of obesity in older years may balance with positive effects. They further point to disability as a cause of obesity, in older years. All this effects show how obesity is expensive. To maintain the lifestyle is very expensive, including medical procedures. In the last two decades, statistics show the US spent $30 billion in treating obesity. Currently, it spends more than $92 billion (Cornier 5). People view obesity as a complex issue that requires deep research. Doctors point to obesity as a simple problem that only affects the body. It is easy for a person to measure his body weight and determine the methods to control the weight. A person should be aware a gain in weight is either due to his behaviour, genetic factors, distribution of adipose tissue or general body composition. He should visit the doctor and understand the nature of his condition. A better understanding of the body would reduce the prevalence of obesity. . Doctors find it hard to prevent the health risks. It would be necessary for people to engage themselves in physical fitness campaigns. Moreover, people should revise their social lives. Experts point is that, fat distribution is a major factor in prevention or increase in obesity cases. A stabilised fat distribution would reduce the risks of adiposity. Obesity brings along expensive social costs. It requires a deep commitment from the affected parties. The research in this paper shows how obesity relates with mortality. An increase in risky mortality activities results to obesity. It is apparent for adiposity to affect mortality in the mid ages. The common mortality that associates with obesity is cancer mortality. Furthermore, obesity is very independent of other diseases like stroke, and some heart diseases. The impact of these results has changed the way heath care providers tackle the issue of obesity. They view the pregnant women as prone to an obesity infection. It is normal occurrence for pregnant women to gain weight, but some women often become overweight. They develop the risk of complications during pregnancy and the eventual contracting obesity. Pregnant women are prone to postpartum obesity, which results from overweight. The women fail to lose weight, even if they apply precautionary measures. Doctors have been successful in identifying the measures to assist pregnant women avoid pregnancy. Departments of medicines all over the world have identified guidelines that would prevent gestation weight gain. Example, doctors recommend a weight gain of between 13 and 18 kilograms for pregnant women with a body mass of Read More