The prevalence of overweight and its association with heart disease in the U.S population

Abstract Abstract:  Obesity (BMI greater than 30.0 kg/m2) is always a trending public health problem and different studies have linked it to the development of heart diseases. However, overweight (BMI between 25.0 kg/m2 and less than 30.0 kg/m2) has very few studies linking it to the development of heart diseases, coupled with the overweight/obesity paradox phenomena which still causes controversy. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to determine the relationship between overweight and congestive heart failure/coronary heart diseases in the United States. To determine this relationship, the 2011–2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) dataset, which surveyed 9756 individuals in the United States was utilized. The dataset was analyzed using Software for Statistics and Data Software (STATA) and Pearson’s chi-squared test. The p-value using the t-test command in STATA for all these variables was <0.001, which indicated that there is a significant relationship between overweight and congestive heart failure/coronary heart disease across gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Although the development of congestive heart failure/coronary heart disease in overweight individuals was confirmed with this study, it is surprising to realize that the socioeconomic status of an individual also plays a role. Further research is necessary to determine how a lower or higher socioeconomic status causes overweight leading to heart diseases.