Temporal Obesity Trends in Patients Undergoing Transthoracic Echocardiography 2002–2006

In a recent data brief, the National Center for Health Statistics reported that obesity prevalence has plateaued in recent years, with no increase in obesity from 2003 to 2006. We have subjectively observed a marked increase in clinically severe obesity over this same period in patients presenting to our echocardiographic laboratory. The aim of this study was to determine temporal trends in obesity prevalence in patients presenting for transthoracic echocardiographic studies. A retrospective database analysis was performed using the Cardiovascular Consultants (Kansas City, Missouri) database (ProSolv Cardiovascular, Indianapolis, Indiana). The height and weight of patients who underwent transthoracic echocardiography in 2002 (n = 10,804) and 2006 (n = 17,556) were obtained. Body mass index was calculated as weight/height squared. Patients were grouped into 1 of 6 body mass index categories (underweight, normal weight, overweight, obese, morbidly obese, or super obese). Continuous variables were compared using Student's t test, and categorical variables were compared using chi-square test. In the 2 years, approximately ⅓ of patients were normal weight and ⅓ of patients were overweight. Obesity prevalence increased significantly (by nearly 8%) over the study period, with 28.1% of patients in the obese category by 2006. Clinically severe obesity (morbidly obese and super obese) increased dramatically from 2002 to 2006 (16%, p <0.008, and 41.7%, p <0.001, increases, respectively). In conclusion, clinically severe obesity has markedly increased in our midwestern echocardiographic laboratory in the period from 2002 to 2006.