Healthcare Paper on Obesity Among Adult High School Population
Cases of diabetes mellitus among juveniles also have greatly increased. This has pointed out to obesity as one of the contributing factors. Obesity is excessiveness of weight due to caloric imbalance. It has increased with an alarming rate among the youths and children in the United States of America. According to Moreno et al. (157), data from CDC points out to 17% of juveniles aged between 2 years and 19 years as being obese. This condition comes along with other comorbidities such as hypertension, cardiac disease, stroke, and diabetes mellitus. There is need to alleviate the behaviors that cause obesity among the high school population.
Obese people are usually at a risk of acquiring for life-threatening disease. For example, hypertension is a prominent comorbidity in obese and overweight youths. Kelly et al. (171) state that the world health organization attributes 12.8% deaths of obese patients to hypertension. The prominence of hypertension in obese teenagers is an indication of cardiovascular disease. Most obese teenagers present with elevated blood glucose also referred to as type 2 diabetes mellitus. They have to live on medication to control the hyperglycemia.
Obesity has created a generation of people who are very inactive (Pulgaron et al. 508). The diseases that accompany the condition limit the youths in the activities they can participate in, such as sports. There is need to alleviate the behaviors that lead to obesity among the high school population. Controlling and adhering to a healthy diet as well as conducting healthy lifestyles imperative for youths in high schools as to avoid obesity. According to Pulgaron et al. (508), some of these habits include ceasing from eating junk foods, eating wholesome meals, reducing the number of calories in the diet, and exercising frequently. By so doing, the percentage of people with obesity in high school will decrease significantly.
Works Cited
Kelly, Rebecca K et al. “Development of Hypertension in Overweight Adolescents: A Review.” Adolescent Health, Medicine and Therapeutics 6 (2015): 171–187. PMC. Web. 25 Jan. 2017.
Moreno, Geraldine, Deb Johnson-Shelton, and Shawn Boles. “Prevalence and Prediction of Overweight and Obesity among Elementary School Students.” The Journal of School Health 83.3 (2013): 157–163. PMC. Web. 25 Jan. 2017.
Pulgaron, Elizabeth R., and Alan M. Delamater. “Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes in Children: Epidemiology and Treatment.” Current Diabetes Reports 14.8 (2014): 508. PMC. Web. 25 Jan. 2017.