Undereducated Parents Have Fat Kids, Says CDC's Annual Report

Undereducated Parents Have Fat Kids, Says CDC's Annual Report

The Centers for Disease Control released their annual report on the state of health in the United States Wednesdayâ€"the full report is nearly 600 pages long, but a few things immediately jumped out. Here's what's happening around the country: 

• In homes where the head of household doesn't hold at least a high school diploma, nearly a quarter of children ages 2-19 in the house are obese. In homes with a bachelor's degree-holding parent, only about 10 percent of children are obese.
• Just 9 percent of people with a bachelor's degree are smokers. Nearly a third of people with a high school diploma or less are smokers. Overall, smoking rates declined in adults from 21 percent to 19 percent between 2009 and 2010.
• People who have a bachelor's degree or higher can expect to live, on average, about 9 years longer than people who don't have a high school diploma.
• The overall life expectancy increased from 76.8 years in 2000 to 78.1 years in 2008.
• The good news: between 2000 and 2008, the death rates from heart disease (26 percent change), cancer (12 percent change), stroke (33 percent change), and diabetes (12 percent change) declined. The death rate from unintentional injuries increased 10 percent.
• The obesity rate increased from 33.9 percent in 2008 to 35.9 percent in 2010. Obesity rates for children between the ages of 6 and 11 declined from 19.6 to 18 percent during the same time period.
• A quarter of people between the ages of 18 and 44 haven't been to the doctor in the last year.
• Nearly 1-in-5 people (18.2 percent) under the age of 65 was uninsured in 2010, a four percent increase from 2009.
• More than a quarter of people (27.1 percent) between the ages of 18 and 44 were uninsured in 2010, a 5 percent increase from 2009.
• About 15 percent of people said they have delayed medical care due to cost over the past year.
• The number of children on Medicaid increased from 20 percent in 2000 to 36 percent in 2010. During the same time, the percentage of children who had private health insurance declined from 67 percent to 54 percent.

Jason Koebler is a science and technology reporter for U.S. News  World Report. You can follow him on Twitter or reach him at jkoebler@usnews.com

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