Medical Surveillance Monthly Report (MSMR). Volume 16, Number 01, January 2009

http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA495050&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf

According to the 2005 DoD Survey of Health Related Behaviors, 61% of men and 39% of women serving in the active component of the U.S. military had a body mass index above 25 kg/m2 and thus were nominally ?overweight?. Twelve percent of active service members were nominally obese (BMI>30 kg/m2), up from less than 5% in 1995. Stress and return from deployment were the most frequently cited reasons for recent weight gain. To ensure a mission-ready force with a "military appearance," the Department of Defense mandates that each military Service implement "body composition programs," including enforcement of weight-for-height standards required for accession and advancement. An increasing number of young adults in the general population do not meet the current weight-for-height standards. Among 18-year olds who applied for military service in 2006, 35% of males and 28% of females had a BMI above 25 kg/m.4 Eighteen-year old military applicants may have ! a higher prevalence of overweight than eighteen-year olds in the general population. Despite physical fitness and body fat standards, many active service members receive clinical diagnoses of overweight during routine medical examinations and other outpatient encounters. This report documents prevalences and trends of outpatient medical encounters for overweight/obesity among active component members of the U.S. Armed Forces during the past 11 years. Th e surveillance period was January 1998-December 2008. Th e surveillance population included all individuals who served in the active component of the U.S. military any time during the surveillance period. Outpatient records routinely maintained in the Defense Medical Surveillance System were searched to identify U.S. military members with diagnoses of ?overweight/obesity.? For this report, the endpoint of data summaries and analyses were outpatient medical encounters with diagnoses specifi c for/suggestive of overweight/obes! ity (?clinical overweight?).