More women than men in the U.S. are considered obese, and the prevalence of obesity has grown in women but not in men, according to a study in Tuesday's issue of JAMA.
The prevalence of obesity was 35 percent among men and 40 percent among women in 2013-14, and there was an increase in prevalence among women, but not men, between 2005 and 2014.
To find these numbers, researchers analyzed data from 2,638 men and 2,817 women from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for 2013-14, as well as data from NHANES surveys from 2005 through 2012.
"We saw that there had been no change in men in either obesity or extreme obesity and there had been an increase in women in both obesity and extreme obesity," Cynthia Ogden, PhD, with the National Center for Health Statistics, said. "And when we adjusted for potential contributors of obesity by age, race, Hispanic origin, education and smoking status, that didn't change the results."
However, they did find women who had education beyond high school were significantly less likely to be obese.
The researchers were unable to determine why obesity rates were increasing in women and staying stagnant in men in the U.S. "Other studies are needed to determine the reasons for these trends," they wrote.