Redrawing the U.S. Obesity Landscape: State-Specific Adult Obesity Prevalence
2016
State-level estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) underestimate the obesity epidemic because they use self-reported height and weight. This study described a novel bias-correction method and produced corrected state-level estimates of obesity and severe obesity.
Using non-parametric statistical matching, the authors adjusted self-reported data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) 2013 (n = 386,795) using measured data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) (n = 16,924). They validated their national estimates against NHANES and estimated bias-corrected state-specific prevalence of obesity (BMI≥30) and severe obesity (BMI≥35). These results were compared with previous adjustment methods.
Compared to NHANES, self-reported BRFSS data underestimated national prevalence of obesity by 16% (28.67% vs 34.01%), and severe obesity by 23% (11.03% vs 14.26%). Twelve million adults with obesity (including 6.7 million with severe obesity) were misclassified by CDC state-level estimates. Previous bias-correction methods also resulted in underestimates.
Redrawing the U.S. Obesity Landscape: State-Specific Adult Obesity Prevalence
Source:
Ward ZJ, Long MW, Resch SC, Gortmaker SL, Cradock AL et al. Redrawing the US Obesity Landscape: Bias-Corrected Estimates of State-Specific Adult Obesity Prevalence. PLOS One 2016; 11 (3). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0150735