Mississippi fattest, obesity rises in 23 states
- From: rpautrey2 <rpautrey2@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 2 Jul 2009 08:27:01 -0700 (PDT)
http://www.physorg.com/news165656393.html
Mississippi fattest, obesity rises in 23 states
July 1st, 2009
By LAURAN NEERGAARD , AP Medical Writer
(AP) -- Mississippi's still king of cellulite, but an ominous tide is
rolling toward the Medicare doctors in neighboring Alabama: obese baby
boomers.
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It's time for the nation's annual obesity rankings and, outside of
fairly lean Colorado, there's little good news. Obesity rates among
adults rose in 23 states over the past year and didn't decline
anywhere, says a new report from the Trust for America's Health and
the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
And while the nation has long been bracing for a surge in Medicare as
the boomers start turning 65, the new report makes clear that fat, not
just age, will fuel much of those bills. In every state, the rate of
obesity is higher among 55- to 64-year-olds - the oldest boomers -
than among today's 65-and-beyond.
That translates into a coming jump of obese Medicare patients that
ranges from 5.2 percent in New York to a high of 16.3 percent in
Alabama, the report concluded. In Alabama, nearly 39 percent of the
oldest boomers are obese.
Health economists once made the harsh financial calculation that the
obese would save money by dying sooner, notes Jeff Levi, executive
director of the Trust, a nonprofit public health group. But more
recent research instead suggests they live nearly as long but are much
sicker for longer, requiring such costly interventions as knee
replacements and diabetes care and dialysis. Studies show Medicare
spends anywhere from $1,400 to $6,000 more annually on health care for
an obese senior than for the non-obese.
"There isn't a magic bullet. We don't have a pill for it," said Levi,
whose group is pushing for health reform legislation to include
community-level programs that help people make healthier choices -
like building sidewalks so people can walk their neighborhoods instead
of drive, and providing healthier school lunches.
"It's not going to be solved in the doctor's office but in the
community, where we change norms," Levi said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has long said that
nearly a third of Americans are obese. The Trust report uses somewhat
more conservative CDC surveys for a closer state-by-state look. Among
the findings:
-Mississippi had the highest rate of adult obesity, 32.5 percent, for
the fifth year in a row.
-Three additional states now have adult obesity rates above 30
percent, including Alabama, 31.2 percent; West Virginia, 31.1 percent;
and Tennessee, 30.2 percent.
-Colorado had the lowest rate of obese adults, at 18.9 percent,
followed by Massachusetts, 21.2 percent; and Connecticut, 21.3
percent.
-Mississippi also had the highest rate of overweight and obese
children, at 44.4 percent. It's followed by Arkansas, 37.5 percent;
and Georgia, 37.3 percent.
-Following Alabama, Michigan ranks No. 2 with the most obese 55- to 64-
year-olds, 36 percent. Colorado has the lowest rate, 21.8 percent.
---
On the Net:
Trust for America's Health: http://healthyamericans.org/
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: http://www.rwjf.org/
.
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