Public Health Essay Example: Obesity

Adulthood Obesity

Houston Texas is ranked number 8 among the 51 states as it has high obesity rates. In Houston Texas, obesity is one of the significant health risks that affect a larger proportion of the people living in Houston. Between 1990 and 2010, the proportion of these adults increased from 12% to 33.7%. However, over the same duration, the percentage of adults in Houston at normal weight declined by 42% to reach a new low of 33%. However, as from 2010, their rate of adults in Harris County alone with ABMI of 25 or higher was estimated at 65%. These people were considered overweight and are in the early stages of obesity development.

Childhood obesity

Child obesity has also been in the increase in Texan children who are obese as compared to the adults. For example, CDC reported that obesity among the chore between 6-11 years increased by 13% between 1980 and 2008. However, the fact that overweight exposes the children to other types of diseases such as type 2 diseases, high blood pressure, depression, low self-esteem depression and increase their risk of contracting chronic diseases in childhood makes overweight and obesity among children the most worrying health problem in Houston. Because over 32% of Houston children below 17 years of age were obese as compared to 16% for the whole of US calls for immediate health promotion interventions. Below is a breakdown of obesity prevalence rates in Houston: East Houston-Settegast (76%), Champions-Willowbrook (74%), Northline-Eastex (74%), Spring-Humble-IAH Area (72%), Atascocita-Lake Houston (72%) (The State of Obesity). Others include Third Ward-MacGregor-Gulfgate ( 68%) and Near Northside-Fifth Ward (67%) (Houston Department of State Health Services, 2017).

Health disparity

There is an evident health disparity in term of obesity in Houston as the African Americans, and the Hispanics are the minority groups at higher risk of becoming obese. 73% of African American, 72% of the Hispanics and 62% of the whites have obesity (Houston Department of State Health Services, 2017). Older peoples scored higher rates of obesity and overweight (73%) as compared to those within the 18-29 years of age that were overweight is 44% (The State of Obesity). On the other hand, there is also a health disparity across education levels in Houston because those will less education were at higher risk of becoming obese because they have a rate of 70% overweight. Whereas those who had a college education (degree) has a significantly lower rate of 60%. Income disparity also contributed to health disparity because 73% of those who earned less than$25,000 per year in Houston was found to be overnight as compared to a rate of only 64% for those Texans that who more than $50,000 (The State of Obesity).

References

Houston Department of State Health Services.(2017). Houston/Harris County Community Transformation Initiative Health Equity Assessment 2012. Texas: Outreach Strategists, LLC. Health Equity Assessment.

The State of Obesity. (2017). The Healthcare Costs of Obesity - The State of Obesity.

Stateofobesity.org. Retrieved 24 November 2017, from https://stateofobesity.org/healthcare-costs-obesity/