U.S. Child and Adolescent Obesity Prevalence Trends, 1963-2008

Prevalence data for obesity among U.S. children and adolescents aged 2-19 years, spanning from 1963-1965 through 2007-2008. The dataset is based on measured height and weight data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and uses BMI-for-age growth charts for classification. It was authored by Cynthia L. Ogden and tracks trends, including an increase in obesity from 5.0% to 18.1% for adolescents aged 12-19 between 1976-1980 and 2007-2008.

Use Cases

• Analyzing long-term obesity prevalence trends based on the multi-decade time series from the 1960s to 2008.
• Comparing obesity rates across different age groups (2-5, 6-11, 12-19 years) as detailed in the description.
• Studying racial and ethnic disparities in adolescent obesity mentioned in the description text.
• Monitoring progress toward public health goals, such as the Healthy People 2010 target for reducing childhood obesity.

Strengths

• Data spans over four decades (1963-1965 through 2007-2008), providing a long-term view.
• Uses measured heights and weights from the NHANES survey, a standard national source.
• Provides specific prevalence percentages for different age groups, such as 10.4% for children aged 2-5 in 2007-2008.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)

Collection Method

Survey data using measured heights and weights, analyzed with BMI-for-age growth charts.

Time Range

1963-1965 through 2007-2008

Geography

United States