Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. Children with the highest BMI had a 130% higher death rate as well as highest glucose intolerance and highest blood sugar compared to children in the lowest 25% BMI group.
Since the first National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) was conducted in 1965, obesity rates among children aged 6-11 and 12-19 have tripled (from 6.5% to 19.6% and 5% to 18.1%, respectively) (1). Obesity-associated hospital costs for children and youth has more than tripled in the last twenty years, rising from $35 million per year in 1979-1981 to $127 million in 1997-1999. The cost of obesity to our healthcare system in adults alone ranges from $98 billion to $129 billion each year (2).
A significant contributor to childhood obesity includes excessive TV and computer usage (3), with childhood obesity becoming so severe that it is now decreasing the quality of life in children (4). Now a new study (5) has found that childhood obesity is now shortening lifespan. In the study, researchers analyzed data on 4,857 American Indian children (6, 7) without diabetes and an average age of 11.3 years to see whether body-mass index (BMI), glucose tolerance, and blood pressure and cholesterol levels were associated with premature death (defined as death before the age of 55).
In addition to the BMI measurements, the “glucose tolerance test” is when patients receive a 75-gram dose of sugar and get measurements of their blood sugar to assess how effective their body is at controlling blood sugar (8). The results were then interpreted according to World Health Organization diagnostic criteria (9).
The researchers found that rates of death among children in the highest quartile of BMI were 130% greater than (more than double) those among children in the lowest 25% BMI Those in the highest 25% of glucose intolerance had premature death 73% higher versus those in the lowest 25% of glucose intolerance. Finally, children with high blood pressure (classified as greater than 140/90 mm Hg) had a 57% increased risk of premature death. No associations were seen between high cholesterol levels and risks for premature death.
For the researchers, “Obesity, glucose intolerance, and [high blood pressure] in childhood were strongly associated with increased rates of premature death…in this population” even though “childhood hypercholesterolemia was not a major predictor of premature death.”
Source: Franks, Paul W., et al. “Childhood obesity, other cardiovascular risk factors, and premature death.” New England Journal of Medicine 362.6 (2010): 485-493.
© 2010 Massachusetts Medical Society
Posted June 4, 2010.
References:
- “Childhood Overweight and Obesity” – see the Centers for Disease Control website.
- “Focus on Childhood Obesity” posted on the Institute of Medicine website.
- Graf, C., et al., Physical activity, leisure habits and obesity in first-grade children. Eur J Cardiovasc Prev Rehabil, 2004. 11(4): p. 284-90
- Williams, J., M. Wake, et al. (2005). “Health-related quality of life of overweight and obese children.” Jama 293(1): 70-6
- Franks PW. Childhood Obesity, Other Cardiovascular Risk Factors, and Premature Death. NEJM 2010; 362(6):485-493
- Knowler WC. Diabetes incidence and prevalence in Pima Indians: a 19-fold greater incidence than in Rochester, Minnesota. Am J Epidemiol 1978;108:497-505.
- Bennett PH, Burch TA, Miller M. Diabetes mellitus in American (Pima) Indians. Lancet 1971;2:125-8.
- “Glucose Tolerance Test” – see the Medline Plus website.
- Report of a WHO consultation: definition, diagnosis and classification of diabetes mellitus and its complications. Part 1: diagnosis and classification of diabetes mellitus. Geneva: World Health Organization, Department of Noncommunicable Disease Surveillance, 1999.
