Systemic review of prevalence of young child overweight and obesity in the United States- Affiliated Pacific region compared with the 48 contiguous states: The Children' s healthy living program.

Abstract

We estimated overweight and obesity (OWOB) prevalence of children in US Affiliated Pacific jurisdictions (USAP) of the Children’s Healthy Living Program compared with the contiguous United States. We searched peer-reviewed literature and government reports (January 2001–April 2014) for OWOB prevalence of children aged 2 to 8 years in the USAP and found 24 sources. We used 3 articles from National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys for comparison. Mixed models regressed OWOB prevalence on an age polynomial to compare trends (n = 246 data points). In the USAP, OWOB prevalence estimates increased with age, from 21% at age 2 years to 39% at age 8 years, increasing markedly at age 5 years; the proportion obese increased from10% at age 2 years to 23% at age 8 years. The highest prevalence was in American Samoa and Guam.