About one-quarter of Canadian adults and more than one-third of adults in the United States are obese. Obese children are at risk of becoming obese adults and can experience immediate health consequences such as psychosocial stress, elevated blood pressure and cholesterol, and abnormal glucose tolerance. Monitoring trends in childhood obesity is…

"The Status of Women in North Carolina: Health & Wellness" is the second in a series of four publications on women's status in North Carolina. Good health, access to health services, and the ability to live in a safe environment are critical to the economic security and overall well-being of North Carolina women. While poor health…

Objective: This study examined the effects of chronic health conditions on tobacco cessation and participation in a follow-up assessment among 13,900 smokers in a telephone-based tobacco cessation programme. Design: This study involved gathering data from individuals during pre- and post-intervention telephonic assessments following their decision…

This executive summary highlights several findings about healthcare. These are: (1) Healthcare is 18 percent of the U.S. economy, twice as high as in other countries; (2) There are two labor markets in healthcare: high-skill, high-wage professional and technical jobs and low-skill, low-wage support jobs; (3) Demand for postsecondary education in…

Problem: Priority health-risk behaviors contribute to the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among youth and adults. Population-based data on these behaviors at the national, state, and local levels can help monitor the effectiveness of public health interventions designed to protect and promote the health of youth nationwide. Reporting…

This study provides unique empirical evidence regarding a growing concern internationally: weight discrimination in the workplace. Using survey data from a national sample of 2838 American adults, it responds to Puhl and Brownell's [Puhl, R., & Brownell, K. D. (2001). Bias, discrimination, and obesity. "Obesity Research, 9", 788-805]…

To investigate the role of body size in social networks, this study estimated cross-nested multilevel network models (p2) with longitudinal data from the 16 saturated schools in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. As body mass index increased, the likelihood of being nominated by schoolmates as friends--but not the likelihood of…

Consumer literature shows that a decision's degree of personal importance and relevance--one's level of involvement in the decision--indicates which type of intervention strategy will be effective in influencing consumers' choices. The authors surveyed 358 college students at a state university in the western United States to test the…

Context and Purpose: Obesity and physical inactivity are common in the United States, but few studies examine this issue within rural populations. The present study uses nationally representative data to study obesity and physical inactivity in rural populations. Methods: Data came from the 1998 National Health Interview Survey Sample Adult and…

American children are gaining weight at an alarming rate. Since the 1960s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the percentage of American six- to eleven-year-olds who fall into the CDC's highest weight classification for children has almost quadrupled. Requiring more physical education (PE) seems like a logical…

This report presents data on the current status of adolescent health. Many of the measures of health status are shown by single year of age or by 2- or 3-year age intervals to highlight the changes that occur in health status as adolescents move through this important developmental period. Summary measures combining 5- or 10-year age groups (the…

The "Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report" ("MMWR") Series is prepared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Data in the weekly "MMWR" are provisional, based on weekly reports to CDC by state health departments. This issue of "MMWR" contains the following studies: (1) Youth Risk Behavior…