State-Level Estimates of Childhood Obesity Prevalence in the U.S. Corrected for Report Bias
2016
State-level obesity estimates are critical to public health efforts to address the childhood obesity epidemic. However, few states have objectively measured body mass index (BMI) surveillance programs. Instead, surveys are used in which parents report the height and weight of their children. However, these estimates are generally biased. This study used a non-parametric statistical matching technique to use measured data from NHANES to correct for this bias and produce adjusted state-level estimates of childhood obesity prevalence. The authors validated their model estimates against surveillance data from five states (AR, FL, MA, PA, and TN) that conduct censuses of children across a range of grades. The study found that parent-reported height and weight generally overestimated obesity prevalence in young children, and underestimated it in adolescents. Uncorrected estimates of childhood obesity prevalence varied widely from measured national data, from a 278% overestimate among males aged 2-5 years, to a 44% underestimate among females aged 14-17 years.
State-Level Estimates of Childhood Obesity Prevalence in the U.S. Corrected for Report Bias
Source:
Long MW, Ward ZJ, Resch SC, Cradock AL, Wang YC, Giles CM, Gortmaker SL. State-Level Estimates of Childhood Obesity Prevalence in the United States Corrected for Report Bias. International Journal of Obesity 2016; 40: 1523-1528. https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2016.130
Not open access.