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Maternal & Child Health > Needs Assessment > Overweight and Obesity in Adult Women Fact Sheet Overweight and Obesity in Adult Women Fact Sheet

Healthy People 2010 Goal:

  • To reduce the proportion of adults (20 years and older) who are overweight or obese to 15%.

Consequences:

  • Overweight and obesity are major contributors to many preventable causes of death.
  • Overweight and obesity substantially raise the risk of illness from high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, gall bladder disease, arthritis, sleep disturbances, problems breathing and certain types of cancers.
  • Obese individuals also may suffer from social stigmatization, discrimination, and lowered self-esteem.
  • Overweight and obese women who become pregnant have a higher risk of poor pregnancy outcome.

Prevalence in Indiana:

  • 27.6% of females were overweight. (2002 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System [BRFSS])
  • 21.7% of females were obese. (2002 BRFSS)
  • 49.3% of the females were at risk of being overweight or obese. (2002 BRFSS)
  • Of the pregnant women participating in the 2001 WIC program, only 42.8% of the Indiana women were normal weight before pregnancy. In that year, 13.4 % were overweight and 29.2% were very overweight; 9.7 % were underweight and 4.9% were very underweight. (2001 CDC Pregnancy Nutrition Surveillance System.)

Trends towards Healthy People 2010 Goal:

Between 1999 and 2002,

  • The overweight in females increased.
  • The obesity in females increased.
  • The risk of being overweight or obese slightly decreased (See table).
  • Indiana is not likely to reach the Healthy People 2010 goal of reducing the proportion of females who are overweight or obese to 15%.

Overweight and Obesity In Indiana females, 1999 through 2002.

Year

1999

2000

2001

2002

Overweight

24.9%

27%

27.1%

27.6%

Obese

19.8%

20.4%

23%

21.7%

At Risk of being Overweight or Obese

*

*

50%

49.3%

Source: BRFSS, Indiana State Department of Health.

Note: Body Mass Index (BMI) is calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of

height in meters (W/H**2).   A BMI between 19 and 24.9 is desirable. Overweight is defined

as a BMI between 25 and 29.9, while obese is defined as a BMI of 30 or greater.

*Data not readily available.

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