title: Pediatric obesity epidemiology.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To provide updated summary of recently published data regarding pediatric obesity epidemiology.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There is a burgeoning literature of pediatric obesity epidemiology, with type 2 diabetes trends serving as the harbinger for obesity related diseases in children. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and Pediatric Nutrition Surveillance System report a tripling of the prevalence of BMI at least 95% (obesity) among US school-age children and adolescents over the past three decades. Recent updates provide insight into infants and toddler obesity and explore the impact of ethnicity, socioeconomic status, school setting and geographic variations. International data confirm similar upward shifts in pediatric BMI distribution, especially in countries undergoing economic transitions favoring industrialized, western urban lifestyles.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The health and financial consequences of this epidemic are a complex global public health dilemma. International efforts are underway to reverse these obesity trends. On-going analysis of obesity prevalence and exploration of potential causal associations are required to implement and assess the effectiveness of interventions and policies.
authors.affiliation: Division of Endocrinology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA.
authors.forename: Carisse M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Orsi
authors.forename: Daniel E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Hale
authors.forename: Jane L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Lynch
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005843:Geography; D014943:Global Health; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008019:Life Style; D009765:Obesity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors