Figure 1.
Secular trends in the prevalence (%) of obesity and severe obesity in US adults (≥20 years old) and youth (2–19 years old) by sex and ethnicity, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999–2016. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines adult obesity and the National Health, Lung, and Blood Institute classified extreme obesity by using BMI cut points of 30 and 40 kg/m2, respectively. Childhood obesity [(BMI ≥95th percentile), and severe obesity (BMI ≥120% of the 95th percentile, or BMI ≥35kg/m2, whichever was lower] were defined by the age-sex-specific BMI percentile in the 2000 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention growth charts. Analysis was stratified by sex and ethnicity for each age group, without adjusting for other socio-demographic groups, taking into account sampling design complexity.