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Childhood Obesity : High Blood Pressure And High Cholesterol

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Childhood obesity is defined as having a age and sex specific Body Mass Index (BMI) at or above 95th percentile. The prevalence of childhood obesity has risen dramatically with the increase more than triple since the 1970 in the United States. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about one in five children from age six to nineteen are in obese. The consequences of childhood obesity include high blood pressure and high cholesterol, these are the risk factors for cardiovascular disease; type 2 diabetes mellitus, fatty liver disease, gallstone, and breathing problems such as asthma and obstructive sleep apnea. If children are obese will more likely to become adults with obesity, and their obesity and risk factors …show more content…

Rural children were more likely than their urban peers to be living in the low income families, or to have parents with less than a college degree. About 26.5 percent of children who lived in rural areas with household incomes less than 100 percent of poverty, compared to 21.6 percent of children lived in urban areas. However, about 30 percent of urban children had household incomes of 400 percent or more of poverty, compared to 15.9 percent of children who lived in rural areas. Physical Activity Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommends that children and adolescents should do 60 minutes or more of physical activity per day. There are three types of physical activity: aerobic activity, muscle strengthening, and bone strengthening. Comparing to the urban children, rural children are more likely to meet the physical activity guidelines. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) is a national survey biannually conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) to assess the health and nutrition status of U.S population. The data from NHANES showed that there were similar physical activity level between urban and rural boys from age 6 to 11 years old; however, rural girls aged 6 to 11 years were more likely to meet physical activity guidelines than urban girls of the same age. There were not a significant differences between boys

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