Obesity and diagnosed cases of diabetes among adults continue to rise and are at their highest levels since the government began compiling these data in 1997, according to a new survey released yesterday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.

Those were the most significant, albeit unsurprising, findings of the 2009 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), which is based on interviews with 88,129 persons, says NHIS health statistician Patricia Barnes. The confidence level of the survey is 95%.

The survey found that 28% of US adults aged 20 years and older were obese (defined as a body mass index of 30 kg/m2 or more). That’s a slight increase over the 2008 estimate of 27.6%. The annual prevalence of obesity has increased steadily from 19.4% in 1997.

Obesity was higher among adults aged 40 to 59 years (31.6%) than among adults aged 20 to 39 years (24.9%) and those aged 60 years and older (27.0%). There was no significant difference between women and men.

The number of diagnosed cases of diabetes also continues to increase. Nine percent of adults were diagnosed with the disease in 2009 compared with 8.2% the previous year. The rise in cases has increased steadily from 5.1% in 1997.

The prevalence of diabetes increased with age. Adults aged 65 years and older (19.5%) were more than 6 times as likely as adults aged 18 to 44 years (2.9%) to have diabetes. For adults aged 65 years and older, the prevalence was higher for men than for women. The age- and sex-adjusted prevalence of diagnosed diabetes was 12.1% for Hispanic persons, 7.4% for non-Hispanic white persons, and 13.0% for non-Hispanic black persons.

There might be a disconnect between Americans’ perceptions of their own health status and the estimates on obesity and diabetes. Two thirds of those interviewed said their own health was excellent or very good. That percentage has been about the same since 2004. In 1997, 68.5% said they enjoyed excellent or very good health.

One surprise in the survey was the increase in the number of adults who said they engaged in regular leisure-time physical activity, said health statistician Patricia Barnes. That went up from 31.9% in 2008 to 34.7% in 2009. Back in 1998, it was 29.8%. Women exercise less than men, the survey found. Non-Hispanic white adults were more likely to exercise than Hispanic adults and non-Hispanic black adults.

The NHIS survey also found:

• Smoking. The percentage of adults who smoke increased slightly from 20.5% in 2008 to 20.6% last year. Men (23.4%) are more likely to smoke than women (17.9%). There’s been a steady decline in smoking among adults from 24.7% in 1997.
• Influenza vaccination. The percentage of adults who received an influenza shot in 2009 was 65.8% for persons aged 65 years and older, 40.6% for persons aged 50 to 64 years, and 23.9% for persons aged 18 to 49 years.
• Pneumococcal vaccination. In 2009, the percentage of adults aged 65 and older who had ever received a vaccination was 60.6% compared with 42.4% in 1997.
• Alcohol consumption. The percentage of adults who had 5 or more drinks in 1 day at least once in the past year was 22.8%.
• HIV testing. Almost 40% of adults have been tested for HIV compared with 31.8% in 1997. The age-sex-adjusted percentages of persons who have had the test were 42.8% for Hispanic persons, 37.4% for non-Hispanic white persons, and 58.2% for non-Hispanic black persons.
• Personal care needs. In 2009, 6.4% of adults aged 65 years and older needed help with personal care from other persons, the same as in 2008.
• Serious psychological distress. Last year, 3.2% of adults experienced serious psychological distress, about the same as the 2008 estimate.
• Asthma. Some 4.2% of those surveyed experienced an asthma episode in 2009, the same as in 2008.

Reprinted from Medscape