FIGURE 1.
Sex- and racial/ethnic-specific prevalence of obesity and severe obesity among US adults (aged 20 y and older) and children (aged 2–19 y) based on data from NHANES 2007–2016 in 9 studies (2, 30–37). A) Adult obesity – men. B) Adult obesity – women. C) Child obesity – boys. D) Child obesity – girls. E) Adult severe obesity – men. F) Adult severe obesity – women. G) Child severe obesity – boys. H) Child severe obesity – girls. Racial/ethnic group was defined as NHWs, NHBs, Hispanics (including Mexican Americans and other Hispanics), Mexican Americans, NHA, and Other. Limited data were available for Hispanic, MA, NHA, and Other (non-Hispanic persons reported races other than black or white) groups across years. To describe racial/ethnic disparities in obesity, we used ethnic ratios comparing the highest prevalence to that for NHWs in each sex-age-specific group. Obesity and severe obesity were classified as BMI ≥30 and ≥40 kg/m2 in adults, (18, 19) and BMI ≥95th percentile, and BMI ≥120% of the 95th percentile, or BMI ≥35 kg/m2, whichever was lower using the age-sex-specific BMI percentile in the 2000 CDC growth charts (20, 21) in children, respectively. Ethnic ratios in A by year: 1.2, 1.1, 1.4, 1.2, 1.2, 1.0. Ethnic ratios in B by year: 1.5, 1.8, 1.7, 1.5, 1.4, 1.4. Ethnic ratios in C by year: 1.6, 1.5, 1.9, 1.3, 2.0. Ethnic ratios in D by year: 1.5, 2.1, 1.4, 1.6, 1.9. Ethnic ratios in E by year: 1.7, 1.8, 1.8, 1.3, 1.4. Ethnic ratios in F by year: 2.3, 2.5, 2.2, 1.8, 1.6. Ethnic ratios in G by year: 2.2, 2.5, 3.1, 1.9, 3.4. Ethnic ratios in H by year: 2.2, 2.2, 2.2, 1.7, 2.8. MA, Mexican American; NHA, non-Hispanic Asian; NHB, non-Hispanic black; NHW, non-Hispanic white.