November 2002
Volume XXVIII, Number 5

	Inside This Issue Defibrillator on Duty Saving Lives in Pittsburgh AEDs: No Experience Required Sudden Cardiac Arrest--Not A Heart Attack New Laws Protect AED Users Motorcycles Equipped With AEDs Overweight Americans Face Serious Health Risks Help For Heart Failure Nuts: Tasty and Heart Healthy Winning Health Recipe of the Month

Nearly everyone knows that more Americans are overweight than ever before. And research data show that obesity, especially in children and teens, is not just about appearance--it plays a key role in the early development of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

"When an adult of 50 gets diabetes and then develops cardiovascular disease, that's bad enough," said Dr. Silva Arslanian, professor of pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. "But when 14-year-old children already have indications of complications, that's more serious because their longevity can be cut extremely short."

In a first-of-its-kind study, data presented at the American Diabetes Association's 62nd Annual Scientific Sessions show that a group of 51 children who developed type 2 diabetes before age 17 were at high risk of kidney failure, miscarriage, and death in their 20s.

"Our youngsters spend too much time in front of a screen -- a computer or a TV -- instead of being outside jumping rope and playing ball, and many schools have cut down on their physical education programs," warned Dr. Arslanian, who chaired a symposium on diabetes and cardiovascular disease in children at the ADA conference. "Plus they are surrounded with calorically dense food -- high fat, high simple sugars, and low fiber -- all of which lead to obesity that is associated with insulin resistance, an early abnormality in the course of developing type 2 diabetes in adults and children."

New government statistics show that 64.5 percent of American adults are overweight or obese. Findings published in JAMA report that about 15 percent of 12-to-19-year-olds are overweight now, up from 5 percent in the late '70s; 15 percent of children ages 6 to 11 are overweight now, up from 7 percent in the late '70s; and 10 percent of 2-to-5-year-olds are overweight now, up from 5 percent in the late '70s.

Experts agree that increased physical activity and better nutrition are the cornerstones of controlling weight and preventing diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. To find out if you are at a healthy weight, see the body mass index (BMI) chart below.

Charts for children are posted at www.cdc.gov. Because body fat levels change as children grow and mature, doctors use gender-specific BMI-for-age charts to identify overweight boys and girls. Children and teens with a BMI-for-age above the 95th percentile are more likely to be at risk for cardiovascular disease and to become overweight adults.