OBJECTIVES: Data from the World Health Organization shows that the United States (US) is at the forefront of the obesity epidemic with obesity prevalence increasing over 25% since the mid-1970s. In 2016 US obesity prevalence was 7-14% higher than the EU5 member nations. This analysis used US administrative claims data from the to assess prevalence of obesity-related conditions since 2016. Given obesity rates in Europe have been lagging the US, findings in US populations may provide a glimpse into Europe’s future.

METHODS: Cohorts of patients with eligibility for the calendar year were established within the Merative^TM MarketScan^®Commercial and Medicare Databases from 2016 through 2021. Prevalence of obesity-related comorbidities (type 2 diabetes [T2D], T2D complications, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and metabolic syndrome [METS]) were examined annually to assess implications of increasing obesity prevalence.

RESULTS: Each annual cohort included 16-24 million patients. Age distributions were ~13% aged <12, ~12% aged 12-19, and ~75% aged ≥20 years and ~48% were male. The prevalence of hypertension (~18%), T2D (~7%) and METS (~0.40%) were relatively stable from 2016-2021; however, prevalence of hyperlipidemia increased from 16.8%-18.2%. Differential patterns were observed across age groups, with increasing prevalence of T2D (8.9%-9.2%) and hyperlipidemia (22.2%-24.1%) in the ≥20-year group and hyperlipidemia (0.73%-1.17%) in the 12–19-year group. Among patients with T2D, increasing prevalence of peripheral vascular disease (<12: 0.7%-1.6%; 12-19: 1.6%-2.0%; ≥20: 9.5%-11.4%) and metabolic complications (<12: 27.5%-40.9%; 12-19: 18.6%-21.5%; ≥20: 2.6%-3.1%) were observed among all age groups, while patients aged ≥20 years also had increasing prevalence of retinopathy (11.3%-12.3%) and neuropathy (14.1%-16.6%).

CONCLUSIONS: Although health system designs vary dramatically between the US and Europe, US data may provide some insight into future trends, especially in cases like obesity where the US may be ahead of the curve and for countries following a similar trajectory to the US.