Overweight and obesity transcends gender, age, and racial and ethnic groups. Today the number of Utah children, adolescents, and adults that are obese is at a record high, with increases in obesity documented for children (kindergarten-eighth grade), adolescents (high school), and adults (18 years and older).
The Utah Department of Health released the most recent obesity data for Utah adults on September 11, 2007 in the Utah Health Status Update, Overweight/Obese, September 2007
Children
The number of Utah children at an unhealthy weight increased dramatically from 1993 to 2006. In 2006, an estimated 22.5 percent of the 261,089 elementary school students, or approximately 58,745 students, were overweight or at risk of becoming overweight. More boys were overweight than girls. If the number of elementary school students at an unhealthy weight continues to increase at the current rate, in 10 years a total of 30.3% of elementary school students will be at an unhealthy weight.
- Childhood Overweight in Utah (PDF 453KB)
- See the Resources page for prevention recommendations
Adolescents
The percentage of overweight Utah high school students has not changed significantly since 1999. The percentage of overweight Utah high school boys is roughly double that of overweight girls. According to the 2003 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), approximately 1.9 million public high school students report being overweight or at risk of becoming overweight. In Utah approximately 36,500 public high school students report being overweight or at risk of becoming overweight. The number of overweight Utah public high school students (14,000 students) is enough to fill 410 classrooms.
Adults
In 2005, more than half of Utah adults (55.2%) were overweight or obese. This amounts to over 977,000 adult Utahns! Nearly two-thirds of adult males (64.1%) and nearly half (48.2%) of females were at an unhealthy weight. The percentage of obese adults has grown from 10.4% in 1989 to 22.1% in 2005 (age-adjusted), an increase of 112%.
Nationally, the trend is similar. In 1993, only 15 states reported obesity rates greater than the Healthy People 2010 Objective of 15 percent. By 2003, all 50 states had rates greater than 15 percent.
Small Areas
‘Small areas’ refers to a set of 61 geographic areas in Utah with relatively small population sizes, approximately 20,000 to 60,000 persons. All small areas are contained within a health district and, when possible, conform to cities and towns. The land area of the small areas varies greatly, with the smallest area consisting of a few square miles in Salt Lake County and the largest small area encompassing the three counties that make up the TriCounty Health District.
Obesity
After adjusting for age, Tooele County and TriCounty health districts had a higher prevalence of obesity (25.8% and 25.1% respectively), while Summit County had a lower prevalence of obesity (10.7%) when compared to the state rate. There were also several small areas with higher and lower prevalence rates of obesity relative to the state rate. Those with higher rates included American Fork/Alpine (27.3%), Rose Park (30.4%), Sandy Center (27.1%), and West Jordan North (30.5%). Those with lower rates included Avenues (8.7%), Cottonwood(11.8%), Downtown Salt Lake (13.3%), and Holladay (11.7%). Charts, Rate Maps, and More Information
Overweight or Obese
After adjusting for age, Tooele County and TriCounty health districts had a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity (63.0% and 63.8% respectively), while Summit County had a lower prevalence (42.9%) when compared to the state rate. There were also several small areas with higher and lower prevalence rates of overweight and obesity relative to the state rate. Those with higher rates include Clearfield/Hill AFB (64.4%), Kearns (64.6%), West Jordan North (66.3%), and West Valley West (65.4%). Those with lower rates include Avenues (38.9%), Bountiful (45.3%), Downtown Salt Lake (48.7%), Holladay (44.8%), Provo/BYU (46.9%), and Sandy Southeast (45.2%). Charts, Rate Maps, and More Information
For more information, see Chapter 1: Overweight and Obesity by Age (838KB PDF) of the Tipping the Scales Toward a Healthier Population - A Report of Overweight and Obesity in Utah and Data on the Resources page. (August 2005)
