Carrying Extra Weight in Teen Years Tends to Continue into Adulthood

In that the prevalence of obesity, which is associated with a range of health concerns, has increased in recent years, a team from University of North Carolina (North Carolina, USA), and colleagues studied the incidence and risk of severe obesity in adulthood by adolescent weight status. Penny Gordon-Larsen and colleagues studied 8.834 adolescents across body mass index categories, finding obese adolescents were significantly more likely to develop severe obesity in adulthood than peers who were overweight or of normal weight.  While the overall rate of incident severe obesity over a 13-year period was 7.9%, the male teens who were moderately obese in their youth were at 37.1% greater rates of incident severe obesity, with female teens at 51.3% greater risk.  The researchers conclude that: “Obesity in adolescence was significantly associated with increased risk of incident severe obesity in adulthood, with variations by sex and race/ethnicity.”