Role of Epidemiology in Informing Efforts to Accelerate Progress in Obesity Prevention

The prevalence and incidence of obesity and obesity-related diseases have increased significantly over the past three decades. Today, two-thirds of adults and nearly one-third of children in the U.S. are overweight or obese. Obesity is a complex health problem. It brings with it enormous human and economic costs, it's hard to treat, and in spite of a great deal of effort to reverse the epidemic, rates are still too high. In response to the urgency of this situation, the Institute of Medicine's Committee to Accelerate Progress in Obesity Prevention (APOP) reviewed hundreds of previously recommended solutions to prevent obesity and developed a road map with five goal areas to help understand and visualize how the most promising strategies could fit together and reinforce each other's effectiveness. This road map calls all of us to account in accelerating progress in obesity prevention over the next decade. A companion to this report included a workshop on Measuring Progress in Obesity Prevention which highlighted strategies and challenges associated with measuring progress in this area. This presentation will review obesity-related trends, summarize the APOP goals and strategies for dealing with this complex and urgent problem, and will highlight roles and opportunities for epidemiologists to play in supporting efforts to evaluate progress in obesity prevention based on recommendations emanating from the Measurement workshop and based on indicators of progress identified by the APOP Committee.