STUDY: American Obesity Rate Increased In 2018

The American obesity rate increased a full five percentage points in 2018, according to the United Health Foundation’s annual report.

According to the Associated Press, the adult population’s obesity rate jumped to 31.3% in the past year, with premature deaths increasing by 3% (from 7,214 to 7,432 years lost before age 75 per 100,000 people).

Dr. Rhonda Randall, chief medical officer of UnitedHealthcare National Markets, and an adviser to America’s Health Rankings, says the latest figures show that the American obesity rate continues to grow, which offers a whole host of health problems for the country.

“This year’s Annual Report spotlights an obesity problem that continues to grow. This means more people will likely develop obesity-related chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer,” said Dr. Randall. “We encourage health professionals, public health officials and elected leaders to use these findings to explore opportunities to better support people in their communities in all aspects of their health.”

Currently, the state of Louisiana earns the top spot for having the highest obesity rate, ahead of Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. On the other end, Hawaii ranks above Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, and Utah as the healthiest state in the nation. Other states have remarkably improved since last year’s statistics.

“Maine, California and North Dakota experienced the largest rank improvements since last year, with Maine rising seven places to No. 16, and California and North Dakota jumping five places to No. 12 and 13, respectively,” reports AP. “Oklahoma experienced the largest rank decline, falling four places to No. 47.”

The dismal report on America’s obesity rate comes shortly after the Center for Disease Control announced that the U.S. suicide rate has reached the highest in 50 years, driving down life expectancy.

In 2017, the United States had 2.8 million deaths, a full 70,000 more than the previous year. While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the spike somewhat reflects the aging population, it’s the spike in younger age groups that raises the most concern.

“These sobering statistics are a wake-up call that we are losing too many Americans, too early and too often, to conditions that are preventable,” Dr. Robert Redfield, the CDC’s director, said in a statement.

In 2017, there were 47,000 suicides in the United States. In 2016, there were 45,000. The numbers keep climbing, contributing to a decline in the overall life expectancy rate, which began to fall in 2015 and 2017 after several decades of escalation. The nation has not seen such a dip since the late 1910’s, when World War I and the worst flu epidemic claimed one million lives. The life expectancy now stands at 78.6 years, down one-tenth from last year.

“We’ve never really seen anything like this,” said Robert Anderson, who oversees CDC death statistics.

Of the 10 leading causes of death, only the cancer rate fell in 2017, while increases were observed in suicide, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer’s flu/pneumonia, chronic lower respiratory diseases and unintentional injuries.