correlates to our health care cost demands. Obesity is responsible for 27 percent of the growth in health care spending. Treating obese patients costs 37 percent more than treating normal-weight patients.73


The rise in overweight and obesity is affecting the bottom line of Texas employers. The Texas Comptroller’s Office found that in 2009, obesity cost Texas businesses an estimated $9.5 billion, due to higher employee insurance costs, absenteeism, and other effects. Left unchecked, obesity could cost employers $32.5 billion annually by 2030.


Improved physical health in students has been linked to academic success. Conversely, children


with obesity are more prone to absences and lower grades. In the United States, students who are physically active at least 60 minutes on most days, play on at least one sports team, or watch fewer than three hours of television per day consistently have “mostly A’s.”74


A great proportion of obese adults were overweight or obese as children. This serious risk factor is found in Texas, where more than 30 percent of children in grades 4 through 11 are overweight or obese.75


A child who is overweight at age 12 has a 75-percent chance of being overweight as an adult.76


There is no single solution to preventing or addressing obesity. Multiple evidence-based


Percent of Children Whose Weight Status Is at or Above the 85th Percentile for Body Mass Index72


NH WA MT OR ID WY IA NE NV UT CA CO KS AZ OK NM TX FL AK HI


State Ranking Lower=Better Performance n Significantly lower than U.S. n Lower than U.S. but not significant n Higher than U.S. but not significant


n Significantly higher than U.S. Statistical significance: p< .05


68 TEXAS MEDICINE November 2012 MO TN AR MS LA AL GA SC IL IN OH WV KY


NC VA


SD ND MN WI MI PA NY NJ DE


MD DC


VT


MA RI


CT ME


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