Bariatric treatments for adult obesity - Institute of Health Economics

generally increased with an increasing BMI: 16% of adults with obesity (combined classes I and II)and 22% of adults with severe obesity (class III) reported having two or more chronic diseases, ascompared to 14% of those in the normal weight range.According to Statistics Canada data for Alberta, in 2005 the percentage of self-reported obesity(BMI 30–39.9 kg/m 2 , combined classes I and II) was 14.7% and the percentage of severely obesewas 1.1% in Alberta. 16 The obesity rates were 17.6% for men and 13.9% for women.Directly measured Canadian and provincial obesity rates for the adult population aged 18 and overshowed that Alberta obesity rates between 1986 and 2004 rose in parallel with rates in Canada,although the Alberta rates were slightly higher. 9,10,16,101 Obesity rates in Alberta increased by ninepercentage points (from 16% to 25%) during this period, while the overall Canadian rate rose byeight percentage points (from 15% to 23%). 16In 2004, 35.7% of adult Albertans were classified as overweight while an additional 25.2% wereclassified as obese, compared to the 37.3% who were of a normal weight. 16,101 Among those whowere classified as obese, 15.4% fit into class I obesity (BMI 30–34.9 kg/m 2 ), 6.7% into class II (BMI35–39.9 kg/m 2 ), and 3.2% into class III (BMI ≥ 40 kg/m 2 ). The prevalence was significantly lowerin large urban than rural centres (22.6% versus 32.2%). 9 The obesity rate in Calgary (estimatedpopulation 765,000) was 25.7% and in Edmonton (estimated population 946,000) the rate was20.1%. 9According to self-reported data from the 2007–2008 CCHS, among 2,619,032 adult (aged 18 andover) Alberta residents in 2007, 17.7% were classified as obese (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m 2 ) and 32.2% wereclassified as overweight (BMI 25–29.9 kg/m 2 ), compared to 42.6% who were of a normal weight. 102Upon further breaking down the obese category, these same CCHS data indicated that 12.5% fit intoobese class I (BMI 30–34.9 kg/m 2 ), 3.7% into obese class II (BMI 35–39.99 kg/m 2 ), and 1.5% intoobese class III (BMI ≥ 40 kg/m 2 ).Table S.1 presents adult obesity by demographic, geographic, and obesity-related comorbiditycategories. It shows the proportion of Alberta residents who reported fitting into obese class I, II, orIII over the whole population in each category, which was calculated based on the prevalence ofAlberta adult residents with obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m 2 ) in 2007 (see Appendix S.B for the prevalenceof adult obesity in Alberta in 2007).Table S.1 also shows differences in the adult obesity rates in 2007 among the categories by gender,age, education level, marital status/living arrangement, and household annual income. Women wereless likely to be classified as obese than men (15.9% versus 19.5%). Education-specific obesitydistribution showed that adult Albertans who had graduated from high school were less likely to beclassified as obese than those who had not graduated from high school (17.2% versus 22.5%).Obesity rates increased with age, from 8.1% among adults aged 18 to 24 to a peak of 23.5% amongindividuals aged 55 to 64. The proportion of obesity drops among the elderly (those over age 65).The proportion of obesity also varied by marital status, with a higher rate among married andwidowed adults (both at over 19%) than among single persons (12.4%).The relationship between adult obesity and household annual income did not present in a linearfashion. Obesity rates were lower (approximately 16%) for those in income categories of less than$20,000 or between $40,000 and $59,000 and higher for those with incomes between $20,000 and$39,000 (17.7%) or between $60,000 and $70,000 (19.2%). The highest obesity rate (21.6%) wasobserved in individuals with incomes of more than $80,000.Bariatric treatments for adult obesity – March 2012 13