Prevalence of Nutritional Status Indicators
Data from the 2007 – 2010 NHANES were used to calculate the prevalence of obesity, overweight, underweight, and short stature in U.S. children and teens.
Prevalence of Nutritional Status Indicators by Age Groups and Sex NHANES 2007-2010
| Nutritional Status Indicators | 2 to 19 years | 2 to 5 years | 6 to 11 years | 12 to 19 years | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Percent | SE | Percent | SE | Percent | SE | Percent | SE | |
| Obesity1 | ||||||||
| Total | 16.8 | 0.7 | 11.1 | 0.8 | 18.8 | 0.7 | 18.2 | 1.1 |
| Female | 15.4 | 0.9 | 10.2 | 1.3 | 16.9 | 1.1 | 16.9 | 1.2 |
| Male | 18.2 | 0.9 | 11.9 | 1.2 | 20.7 | 0.9 | 19.4 | 1.6 |
| Overweight2 | ||||||||
| Total | 14.9 | 0.5 | 12.8 | 1.0 | 15.2 | 0.8 | 15.6 | 0.8 |
| Female | 15.4 | 0.9 | 12.3 | 1.1 | 16.7 | 1.3 | 16.0 | 1.4 |
| Male | 14.3 | 0.6 | 13.3 | 1.7 | 13.8 | 1.2 | 15.2 | 1.0 |
| Underweight3 | ||||||||
| Total | 3.5 | 0.3 | 3.4 | 0.5 | 3.6 | 0.5 | 3.5 | 0.4 |
| Female | 3.5 | 0.3 | 4.3 | 1.0 | 3.7 | 0.8 | 3.0 | 0.5 |
| Male | 3.6 | 0.5 | 2.7 | 0.5 | 3.5 | 0.7 | 4.1 | 0.8 |
| Short Stature4 | ||||||||
| Total | 3.6 | 0.3 | 2.8 | 0.5 | 3.2 | 0.4 | 4.2 | 0.4 |
| Female | 3.6 | 0.4 | 2.3 | 0.6 | 3.1 | 0.5 | 4.6 | 0.6 |
| Male | 3.6 | 0.4 | 3.3 | 0.6 | 3.3 | 0.5 | 3.9 | 0.5 |
1 Obesity: BMI-for-age ≥ 95th percentile
2 Overweight: BMI-for-age ≥ 85th percentile and < 95th percentile
3 Underweight: BMI-for-age < 5th percentile
4 Short stature: height-for-age < 5th percentile
*Excludes pregnant females
Source: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; Personal communication with Ogden CL, National Center for Health Statistics. (Nov. 2012). Unpublished data.
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Page last reviewed: March 10, 2016