A look at the state of American children's health

An estimated 17 percent of children and adolescents ages 2-19 are overweight, according to a national 2003-04 study.

Data from a 1976-80 survey and from the 2003-04 study show that the prevalence of overweight children aged 2 5 years increased during that period from 5 percent to 13.9 percent. For ages 6 to 11, prevalence increased from 6.5 percent to 18.8 percent. For ages 12 to 19, prevalence increased from 5 percent to 17.4 percent. (A child whose Body Mass Index -- BMI -- lies between the 85th and 95th percentile is considered overweight. A child with a BMI equal to or greater than the 95th percentile is classified as obese.)

National survey data indicate that 20 percent of U.S. children 8- to 16-years-old reported two or fewer bouts of vigorous physical activity per week, and more than 25 percent watched at least four hours of television per day -- both trends confirmed by studies showing that children are less active now than indicated in previous surveys, and that their leisure activity is increasingly sedentary. Among high school students, 35 percent watched three or more hours of television per day on an average school day, and 25 percent played video or computer games or used a computer for something that was not schoolwork for three or more hours per day.

There also has been a drop among children in frequency and duration of physical activities, such as walking to school and doing household chores, in their daily living.

Daily participation in school physical education among adolescents dropped 14 percentage points over a 13-year period -- from 42 percent in 1991 to 28 percent in 2003.

Obese children and teens have been found to have risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD), including high cholesterol levels, high blood pressure and abnormal glucose tolerance. In a sample of 5- to 17-year-olds, almost 60 percent of overweight children had at least one CVD risk factor while 25 percent of overweight children had two or more CVD risk factors.

Type 2 diabetes has become increasingly common among children aged 6-11 years and adolescents aged 12-19 years. During the mid-1990s, type 2 diabetes in youth increased tenfold in the United States and mirrored the childhood obesity epidemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 206,000 cases of diabetes among those under 20 in the United States in 2002, giving an estimated prevalence of 0.25 percent.

Obesity, along with family history, stands out as a prominent risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes. Only 20 percent of students eat the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables per day.

Sources: The 2003-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; American Academy of Pediatrics; American Disabilities Association; National Association for Sport and Physical Education; National Youth Risk Behavior Survey; Statement of Francine Kaufman, Past National President American Diabetes Association, to a Senate health committee in 2008.