The Epidemiology of Overweight and Obesity in Henan Province, China

Abstract

Overweight and obesity have increased to epidemic proportions around the world. To study the epidemiology of obesity in Henan Province, we used the 2002 China National Nutrition Survey data. Overweight and obesity were defined by the WHO criteria of Body mass index (Overweight: 25 kg/m2≤BMI<30 kg/m2, Obesity: BMI≥30 kg/m2) and waist circumference (WC≥85 cm in men and WC≥80 cm in women), and China Criteria (Overweight: 24 kg/m2≤BMI<28 kg/m2, Obesity: BMI≥28 kg/m2. The prevalence of overweight and obesity in Henan Province in 2002 were 26.1% and 5.1% using WHO criteria, respectively, and 28.9% and 11.6% using China criteria, respectively. The prevalence of central obesity was 27.1% using China criteria and standardized prevalence 25.5%. We estimated that 15.6 (using WHO criteria) to 17.7 million (using China criteria) people are over overweight, and 3 million to 7 million people obese in Henan province. The rapid increase in income and quick decrease in physical activity are important risk factors for overweight or obesity, which indicated that increasing physical activity and keeping energy intake balance are keys to preventing and controlling obesity.