Introduction:
Prevalence of severe obesity is increasing, especially among the young Hispanic population.
Methods:
In the HCHS/SOL cohort of 18-74 year old US Hispanics, we examined gradients across BMI and age in CVD risk factors.
Results:
Approximately one in five males (total N = 6,547) and one in ten females (total N=9,797) met criteria for class II obesity (BMI 35 - 40 kg/m
2
) or class III obesity (BMI ≥ 40 kg/m
2
). The prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, and elevated C-reactive protein rose with each successive class of overweight/obesity. In contrast, the prevalence of elevated levels of total cholesterol, LDL-c and triglycerides increased across normal weight, overweight (BMI 25 - 30 kg/m
2
), and class I obese (BMI 30 - 35 kg/m
2
) groups, but did not increase in frequency across class I, class II, and class III obesity groups. The
Figure
depicts isolines that identify age- specific subgroups of the normal-weight and class II - III obese groups that had the same estimated prevalence of CVD risk factors, with 95 percent confidence intervals. Among young adults with class II or III obesity, the prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, and the combination of three or more CVD risk factors was similar to that among normal-weight individuals (BMI 18.5 - 25 kg/m
2
) who were 15 to 30 years older. Among young obese individuals, the prevalence of low HDL-c levels and high C-reactive protein levels exceeded that among the oldest adults in the cohort. CVD risk factors had stronger, more consistent gradients across the BMI categories among men than among women.
Conclusion:
Class II and III obesity, defined as BMI ≥ 35 kg/m
2
, are common in the Hispanic/Latino population. Young adults with these severe forms of obesity have dramatically increased frequency of cardiometabolic risk factors. The age-related accumulation of multiple CVD risk factors, such as is typically seen in normal-weight individuals, is accelerated by 1-2 decades in severly overweight women and by 2-3 decades in severely overweight men.
Lifestyle modification for weight loss: effects on cardiorespiratory capacity in Patients with Class II and Class III Obesity