improving the healthcare outcomes for children and adults living with obesity (population at risk) in Wayne County, Michiga

Epidemiology

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Epidemiology

The rate at which children and adults with obesity in Michigan state have dramatically increased. Both children and adults are classified as at-risk populations by public health agencies. Recent research by the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) shows that approximately 2.5 million adults and more than 400 children in Michigan State are obese. This health problem, obesity, is attributed to heart attack, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. The problem is at a high rate and is costing the state billions of dollars in unnecessary health care expenditures to take care of the at-risk obese population. Michigan is obese, unhealthy, and dying young despite the state having beaches, hiking trails, bike paths, and locally grown fruits and vegetables that make a healthy and fit state.

Michigan is ranked 18th as a country with the highest rate of obesity in the world. The problem has risen by 21.8% among adults from 2001 to 2008. In the United States, it comes to number 8 as a state with the highest prevalence rate of obesity. In 2008, 65.3% of adult citizens in Michigan were reported to be either obese or overweight (Tholen et al., 2019). 35.2% were overweight, while 30.1% were obese. Obese children between 2 to 10 years old make 18.9% and rank Michigan position 5 out of 51 states in the U.S. that are vulnerable to obesity. Adult obesity is 33.0% and lists Michigan number 19 out of 51 countries in the U.S.

The poor diet, poverty, and lack of physical exercises among the people Michigan are the leading causes of obesity among children and adults. Physical exercises help in maintaining body weight; thus, continued physical exercises lower the risk of having other problems such as osteoporosis and cancer, which are linked to obesity (Perez-Sanz, 2019). Unhealthy eating is another leading factor in obesity in Michigan. Due to high levels of poverty, healthy weight is not attained through good eating habits. 78.3% and 78.3% of Michigan adults and children do not consume adequate vegetables and fruits, respectively.

The State of Childhood Obesity website provides the above information and data on the prevalence of obesity in Michigan state. It is a public health-based organization that aims at helping all children to grow up healthy. Another useful website that assisted in locating obesity prevalence in Michigan is Bridge, Michigan Health Watch. Its website presents obesity epidemiology in Michigan state. Additionally, scholarly articles by Perez-Sanz and Tholen et al., played a role in explaining epidemiologic information on obesity.

References

Perez-Sanz, S. (2019). The problem of obesity among high school students in Michigan State House District 101. Public Health Review, 2(1).

Tholen, S., Kovary, K., Rabiee, A., Bielczyk-Maczyńska, E., Yang, W., & Teruel, M. N. (2020). Flattened circadian glucocorticoid oscillations cause obesity due to increased lipid turnover and lipid uptake. bioRxiv.