. 2005 Sep;95(9):1614–1622. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2004.050112

TABLE 2—

Pooled and Annual Prevalence Rates of Obesity in 41 Occupational Categories: the National Health Interview Survey, 1997–2002

					Annual Prevalence Rate of Obesity
Occupation	Sample No.	Estimated US Population	Percentage Black	Overall Prevalence	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	Slope ±SE	P
Men
Officials and administrators (public administration)	335	401 695	12.70	27.79	26.5	25.3	21.1^a	18.4^a	32.8	38.0	^b	^b
Managers administrators (except public administration)	6005	7 316 851	5.40	22.34	17.4	22.4	25.0	20.3	24.1	24.6	1.152 ±0.556	.11
Management-related occupations	1767	2 114 629	7.20	19.12	16.3	20.3	14.5	22.8	20.9	20.1	0.820 ±0.718	.32
Engineers	1471	1 831 119	4.10	18.18	14.9	15.4	16.2	22.6	16.9	23.4	1.317 ±0.628	.10
Architects and surveyors	158	185 661	4.50	14.54	9.4^a	21.1^a	11.1^a	12.6^a	13.6^a	14.1^a	^b	^b
Natural, mathematical/computer scientists	1543	1 794 908	4.90	18.85	18.5	19.1	15.1	15.5	25.1	18.6	0.439 ±0.885	.65
Health-diagnosing occupations	579	745 432	2.20	11.19	7.2^a	8.0^a	17.1	17.1	8.6^a	10.8^a	0.642 ±0.851	.49
Health assessment/treating occupations	357	412 753	9.00	22.20	22.3	12.0^a	25.6^a	23.1	17.4^a	31.2	1.360 ±1.668	.46
Teachers, librarians, counselors	1798	2 073 333	8.00	20.37	17.8	20.2	21.6	19.7	21.1	21.4	0.574 ±0.249	.08
Writers, artists, entertainers, athletes	1104	1 202 685	8.00	16.88	12.4	17.5	14.1	18.4	18.1	20.8	1.360 ±0.473	.05
Other professional specialty occupations	1231	1 426 256	9.00	20.72	16.8	23.1	13.5	27.3	18.5	25.8	1.141 ±1.278	.42
Health technologists/technicians	302	358 786	10.90	13.67	15.5^a	9.2^a	7.6^a	23.0^a	12.3^a	13.0^a	^b	^b
Technologists, technicians (except health)	1615	1 901 481	7.20	23.29	19.1	21.4	26.4	24.9	19.9	27.8	1.042 ±0.777	.25
Supervisors and proprietors	1871	2 274 531	5.30	21.79	22.2	15.8	24.6	17.5	26.5	23.9	0.912 ±1.039	.43
Sales representatives, commodities and finance	2097	2 570 730	4.50	19.02	18.9	16.7	20.5	22.3	17.7	18.3	0.049 ±0.514	.93
Other sales personnel	1891	2 320 817	9.50	18.67	14.9	18.3	20.6	18.8	17.5	22.1	0.892 ±0.487	.14
Computer equipment operators	155	180 586	13.10	24.94	20.0^a	18.5^a	28.9^a	25.3^a	29.9^a	33.1^a	^b	^b
Secretaries, stenographers, and typists	59	59 810	9.70	17.65^a	5.6^a	7.3^a	43.7^a	0.0	27.5^a	0.0	^b	^b
Financial records processing occupations	200	222 444	18.60	23.10	12.8^a	33.1^a	23.3^a	27.0^a	16.5^a	24.3^a	^b	^b
Mail and message distribution personnel	441	505 995	24.10	20.45	20.0	15.8	31.8	9.8	17.6	25.6	0.131 ±2.135	.95
Other administrative support personnel	2593	2 949 184	14.80	22.88	18.9	18.3	25.0	22.2	25.0	27.0	1.677 ±0.463	.02
Private household occupations	26	29 512	34.60	31.32^a	0.0	42.8^a	0.0	19.5^a	47.1^a	37.7^a	^b	^b
Police and firefighters	987	1 186 698	12.80	29.79	22.5	25.7	33.5	31.1	35.4	30.7	2.053 ±0.796	.06
Other protective service occupations	646	696 744	22.50	27.58	21.2	31.0	19.2	27.1	38.5	28.3	1.681 ±1.456	.31
Food service personnel	1825	2 080 815	14.60	18.49	16.2	13.1	23.5	18.4	17.3	22.4	1.205 ±0.843	.23
Health service personnel	247	254 544	33.30	24.61	30.0	23.4^a	33.5^a	19.7^a	24.8	16.7^a	^b	^b
Cleaning and building service personnel	1507	1 612 197	19.60	22.99	18.0	21.4	22.2	22.6	25.6	27.8	1.751 ±0.218	.00
Personal service workers	418	436 927	17.30	17.14	17.5^a	23.8	17.5	15.6^a	11.8^a	15.5^a	–1.362 ±0.775	.15
Farm operators and managers	627	764 784	1.00	21.62	14.9	19.9	23.8	26.9	23.1	22.6	1.692 ±0.741	.08
Farm workers and other agricultural workers	1556	1 535 568	6.70	18.72	19.5	17.3	23.6	17.0	19.2	15.2	–0.600 ±0.658	.41
Forestry and fishing occupations	117	134 640	6.00	19.81	16.0^a	25.8^a	0.0	17.4^a	39.8^a	20.5^a	^b	^b
Mechanics and repairers	3626	4 333 134	7.90	22.94	21.1	23.2	21.8	21.5	24.3	25.5	0.701 ±0.275	.06
Construction and extractive trades	4686	5 398 196	7.40	18.45	16.5	16.6	17.9	15.2	21.9	21.9	1.071 ±0.553	.13
Precision production occupations	2223	2 641 979	7.20	25.00	18.7	23.4	25.6	31.0	26.3	25.2	1.628 ±0.773	.10
Machine operators/tenders (except precision)	2605	2 947 586	11.80	23.37	24.2	20.0	25.5	24.9	20.6	25.2	0.024 ±0.662	.97
Fabricators, assemblers, inspectors, samplers	1414	1 690 948	10.90	22.00	21.8	19.5	17.7	24.9	22.4	26.4	0.973 ±0.662	.22
Motor vehicle operators	2989	3 426 058	14.40	31.66	27.9	31.5	29.5	30.9	34.2	35.9	1.391 ±0.347	.02
Other transportation (except motor vehicles)	140	185 361	10.40	28.72	12.2^a	30.6^a	49.0^a	27.0	21.9^a	32.3^a	^b	^b
Material-moving equipment operators	927	1 094 993	12.90	28.24	23.1	27.4	30.4	25.6	32.8	30.1	1.410 ±0.652	.10
Construction laborers	836	897 497	10.80	22.32	22.2	14.5	15.2	25.8	29.2	24.8	1.782 ±1.269	.23
Freight, stock, material handlers	2355	2 815 269	18.00	22.09	19.4	21.6	23.1	15.1	27.0	26.4	1.050 ±1.207	.43
Women
Officials and administrators (public administration)	376	346 463	19.70	21.12	18.0	22.2	21.7	20.1^a	25.2	19.5	0.621 ±0.601	.36
Managers administrators (except public administration)	4934	4 797 582	8.50	18.11	17.0	14.9	20.3	17.9	18.4	19.9	0.660 ±0.437	.21
Management-related occupations	2936	2 897 763	11.70	17.78	12.6	15.4	21.7	14.7	18.1	24.1	1.671 ±0.746	.09
Engineers	210	207 259	5.60	12.84	8.5^a	12.1^a	10.8^a	15.6^a	17.4^a	11.7^a	^b	^b
Architects and surveyors	39	40 444	2.60	7.29^a	0.0	4.0^a	0.0	15.6^a	27.7^a	0.0	^b	^b
Natural, mathematical/computer scientists	799	768 699	9.50	13.30	12.6	10.3	16.5	14.5	12.3	13.8	0.374 ±0.515	.51
Health-diagnosing occupations	283	288 217	6.60	10.25	0.0	10.5^a	16.9^a	8.2^a	10.2^a	14.7^a	^b	^b
Health assessment/treating occupations	2610	2 758 450	9.20	19.83	18.6	20.5	18.8	20.8	21.7	18.6	0.243 ±0.345	.52
Teachers, librarians, counselors	4400	4 477 066	9.40	16.84	15.7	14.4	16.6	16.6	18.9	18.6	0.818 ±0.234	.03
Writers, artists, entertainers, athletes	1117	1 092 478	5.30	13.48	13.2	10.4	17.8	11.2	12.0	16.8	0.451 ±0.683	.55
Other professional specialty occupations	1463	1 362 526	15.60	19.14	15.2	14.1	19.1	16.2	24.9	25.1	2.104 ±0.694	.04
Health technologists/technicians	1391	1 416 593	13.70	23.48	21.4	21.9	23.5	23.3	27.3	22.9	0.638 ±0.427	.21
Technologists, technicians (except health)	838	810 554	9.70	18.04	17.2	20.9	8.7	20.8	19.7	20.8	1.147 ±1.686	.53
Supervisors and proprietors	1421	1 449 510	7.50	19.96	16.4	20.5	17.0	18.2	21.4	25.1	1.390 ±0.546	.06
Sales representatives, commodities and finance	1503	1 483 280	6.00	13.68	9.0	15.9	13.3	15.0	12.8	16.6	1.159 ±0.534	.10
Other sales personnel	3585	3 684 792	12.60	18.24	14.7	19.2	21.0	18.5	19.1	16.7	0.370 ±0.583	.56
Computer equipment operators	236	224 232	15.40	23.76	20.3	19.2^a	27.7	49.3	17.3	32.1^a	^b	^b
Secretaries, stenographers, and typists	2532	2 572 819	8.70	19.63	21.2	17.1	21.6	19.1	17.9	21.3	–0.047 ±0.534	.93
Financial records processing occupations	1768	1 786 692	7.90	20.42	15.0	25.4	18.5	19.8	19.4	24.1	0.963 ±0.857	.32
Mail and message distribution personnel	379	361 468	20.90	17.39	26.3	11.1^a	13.9^a	17.7	15.4^a	20.4	0.480 ±1.407	.75
Other administrative support personnel	7941	7 864 575	14.40	22.46	18.7	23.6	19.8	23.2	23.9	24.9	0.970 ±0.449	.10
Private household occupations	701	578 535	13.20	18.76	0.0	15.6	18.8	23.0	16.9	20.2	^b	^b
Police and firefighters	232	189 198	29.00	15.89	26.0^a	4.2^a	13.3^a	10.1^a	26.1^a	18.9^a	^b	^b
Other protective service occupations	256	232 682	27.20	30.45	22.4^a	27.3	24.0	33.8	27.1^a	47.2	^b	^b
Food service personnel	3030	3 032 388	11.10	20.10	18.5	19.3	22.0	17.8	22.2	20.5	0.437 ±0.407	.34
Health service personnel	2423	2 156 950	27.90	32.43	26.9	26.9	30.4	36.7	35.4	36.6	2.354 ±0.486	.01
Cleaning and building service personnel	1545	1 325 389	21.50	25.25	23.2	26.3	23.2	24.9	26.5	27.6	0.668 ±0.345	.13
Personal service workers	2261	2 167 360	13.90	22.01	18.0	22.4	21.7	24.0	22.8	23.2	0.968 ±0.358	.05
Farm operators and managers	130	147 997	0.00	18.35	11.4^a	29.7^a	15.5^a	25.2^a	15.6^a	13.1^a	^b	^b
Farm workers and other agricultural workers	358	344 144	4.40	22.76	14.2^a	23.5	24.9^a	30.8	22.1	21.7	1.372 ±1.138	.29
Forestry and fishing occupations	7	5 587	43.50	9.32^a	0.0	0.0	0.0	32.2^a	0.0	0.0	^b	^b
Mechanics and repairers	218	203 532	11.80	20.65	8.9^a	6.6^a	21.5^a	26.4^a	25.3^a	26.9^a	^b	^b
Construction and extractive trades	144	152 008	4.50	6.93^a	2.1^a	3.6^a	0.9^a	10.7^a	10.1^a	16.4^a	^b	^b
Precision production occupations	848	802 569	12.40	23.20	28.2	21.6	22.9	24.5	18.4	24.0	–0.978 ±0.792	.28
Machine operators/tenders (except precision)	1678	1 498 063	17.60	25.14	24.8	23.5	24.2	24.7	25.4	29.1	0.669 ±0.335	.12
Fabricators, assemblers, inspectors, samplers	1045	970 146	16.80	25.30	23.1	21.6	21.0	23.2	32.5	30.7	2.075 ±0.854	.07
Motor vehicle operators	499	472 407	18.20	31.02	15.2	18.1	37.0	33.5	37.3	42.6	5.722 ±1.080	.01
Other transportation (except motor vehicles)	5	2608	76.80	64.08^a	0.0	0.0	0.0	100.0	100.0	0.0	^b	^b
Material-moving equipment operators	86	76 818	15.90	29.53	10.4^a	22.4^a	27.4^a	22.8^a	41.6^a	52.6^a	^b	^b
Construction laborers	23	19 105	9.10	21.09^a	15.1^a	14.8^a	47.5^a	0.0	0.0	20.0^a	^b	^b
Freight, stock, material handlers	948	905 494	14.10	19.12	15.4	19.5	15.3	22.1	21.7	19.9	1.061 ±0.595	.15

^aEstimates have a relative standard error > 30% and should be used with caution, as they do not meet NCHS standards of reliability or precision.31

^b Trends were not calculated when the sample size for any individual survey year fell below 45.