Prevalence of and Risk Factors for Adolescent Obesity in Southern Appalachia, 2012

The objective of this study was to examine weight status among southern Appalachian adolescents and to identify risk factors for obesity. We analyzed baseline data from the Team Up for Healthy Living study in 2012. Overall, 19.8% of the sample was overweight, and 26.6% was obese. Boys had higher rates of overweight/obesity than girls (50.5% vs 42.3%). Being male (odds ratio [OR] = 1.79; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.39–2.29), having a mother with a high school education or less (OR = 1.39; 95% CI, 1.05–1.83), or having a father with a high school education or less (OR = 1.57; 95% CI, 1.17–2.09) was associated with a higher prevalence of obesity and a higher body mass index z score (β = 0.131, 0.160, and 0.043, respectively, P < .05). Parental education could be used to identify adolescents with a higher likelihood of obesity.