Obesity Among Children and Adolescents in NHANES August 2021-August 2023: An Examination of Race/Hispanic Origin Subgroup Estimates.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Repeated cross-sectional national surveillance survey (NHANES).
PubMed 40915576 · doi:10.1111/ijpo.70041
What was done
Researchers analyzed measured height and weight data from 28,666 youth aged 2–19 years participating in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 1999 (or 2007 for Hispanic youth) and August 2023. Regression models evaluated sex- and race/Hispanic origin-specific trends in childhood obesity, defined as a BMI-for-age at or above the 95th percentile.
What was found
From 2007 to August 2023, obesity prevalence increased significantly in Hispanic girls (p = 0.03) but not Hispanic boys (p = 0.06). From 1999 to August 2023, obesity prevalence increased in non-Hispanic White boys (p = 0.02) and non-Hispanic Black girls (p = 0.04), but not non-Hispanic White girls (p = 0.10). Among non-Hispanic Black boys, a quadratic trend emerged (p = 0.03) with obesity jumping from 19.4% in 2017–2018 to 38.1% in August 2021–August 2023 (p < 0.01), a magnitude the authors noted as likely implausible.
Why it matters
The findings demonstrate continuing upward trends in pediatric obesity across several demographic groups while highlighting that recent post-COVID-19 survey cycle changes introduced substantial sampling noise in specific subgroups.
Limits
The NHANES August 2021–August 2023 cycle suffered from operational design changes and smaller sample sizes among certain racial/ethnic subgroups, particularly Black youth, which likely inflated sampling variation and produced implausibly large point estimates. The cross-sectional design cannot evaluate individual-level trajectories or identify causal drivers of trends.
Cited by
- partial Approximately 25% to 30% of American teenagers are classified as obese.