Indicator 7: Obesity

• Obesity is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or greater. BMI is calculated by dividing a person’s weight in kilograms by his or her height in meters squared (kg/m2).
• Older adults can benefit from maintaining a healthy body weight. Obesity is a risk factor for many chronic conditions, including four of the 10 leading causes of death in the United States — coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, and several forms of cancer. Obesity also can worsen conditions such as arthritis, and it is associated with activity limitations and feelings of sadness and hopelessness.(1)
• Call to action:
  • Promoting healthy behaviors among older adults

Location Data C.I.* Rank† Grade‡ United States 20.2 n/a n/a n/a Alabama 24.5 (21.3 - 28.0) 50 Alaska 23.4 (17.0 - 31.4) 46 Arizona 17.8 (14.4 - 21.7) 10 Arkansas 19.1 (16.6 - 21.9) 18 California 18.6 (15.5 - 22.1) 14 Colorado 13.9 (11.5 - 16.7) 2 Connecticut 17.7 (15.6 - 20.1) 6 Delaware 18.5 (15.4 - 22.1) 13 District of Columbia 18.4 (14.5 - 23.0) 12 Florida 18.6 (16.4 - 21.1) 14 Georgia 21.1 (18.0 - 24.6) 35 Hawaii§ 10.2 (8.0 - 12.9) 1 Idaho 20.1 (17.4 - 23.1) 25 Illinois 19.4 (16.4 - 22.8) 21 Indiana 19.9 (17.6 - 22.4) 24 Iowa 24.0 (21.4 - 26.8) 49 Kansas 20.4 (18.5 - 22.3) 28 Kentucky 20.4 (17.8 - 23.3) 28 Louisiana 25.6 (23.0 - 28.3) 51 Maine 20.4 (17.4 - 23.6) 28 Maryland 23.2 (19.6 - 27.3) 44 Massachusetts 17.3 (14.9 - 19.9) 5 Michigan 22.0 (19.5 - 24.7) 37 Minnesota 22.6 (19.9 - 25.7) 40 Mississippi 22.6 (20.1 - 25.4) 40 Missouri 20.8 (18.0 - 23.9) 32 Montana 17.2 (14.7 - 20.1) 4 Nebraska 21.7 (19.6 - 23.9) 36 Nevada 17.7 (13.8 - 22.4) 6 New Hampshire 19.2 (16.5 - 22.1) 19 New Jersey 19.7 (18.0 - 21.4) 23 New Mexico 14.1 (12.2 - 16.3) 3 New York 18.7 (16.1 - 21.5) 16 North Carolina 22.0 (20.3 - 23.8) 37 North Dakota 23.6 (20.2 - 27.4) 47 Ohio 23.2 (19.3 - 27.6) 44 Oklahoma 18.1 (16.3 - 20.1) 11 Oregon 17.7 (15.3 - 20.3) 6 Pennsylvania 22.6 (20.4 - 25.1) 40 Rhode Island 18.8 (15.8 - 22.2) 17 South Carolina 22.5 (20.1 - 25.1) 39 South Dakota 21.0 (18.9 - 23.3) 34 Tennessee 20.4 (17.3 - 24.0) 28 Texas 20.9 (18.2 - 23.8) 33 Utah 20.3 (17.2 - 23.9) 27 Vermont 17.7 (15.6 - 19.9) 6 Virginia 19.6 (16.6 - 23.0) 22 Washington 19.3 (17.8 - 20.8) 20 West Virginia 22.6 (19.6 - 25.8) 40 Wisconsin 23.8 (20.8 - 27.2) 48 Wyoming 20.2 (17.4 - 23.5) 26

Make comparisons Healthy People 2010 Targets

= Upper Third (top performing 33%)   = Middle Third (middle 33%)   = Lower Third (lowest performing 33%)         * A confidence interval (CI) describes the level of uncertainty of an estimate and specifies the range in which the true value is likely to fall. The State of Aging and Health in America online report uses a 95% level of significance, which means that 95% of the time, the true value falls within these boundaries.         † Rankings are based on the relative numeric scores for each indicator, with a ranking of "1" indicating the highest rank.         ‡ Grades are calculated as tertiles (thirds) and show state performance relative to all other states.         § 2003 data are used for Hawaii because no 2004 data exist.           Note: When comparing prevalence of variables across states or years, we recommend the use of confidence intervals. If the confidence intervals overlap, the difference is not statistically significant.