In pediatrics, the term obese generally refers to children whose weight is greater than the 95th percentile for their age and gender (notably, some institutions instead refer to this group as "overweight"). While no specific percentile is delineated to classify a child as "morbidly obese," the term is generally used to identify those children whose risk of obesity-related illnesses is dramatically increased compared to other obese children.

The term morbid obesity is not officially recognized in the pediatric population by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Thus, accurate statistics to measure the prevalence of morbid obesity in U.S. children are not available. However, based on statistics from 1999 to 2004, the prevalence of BMI above the 95th percentile (referred to by the CDC as "overweight" and by other institutions as "obese") in children and adolescents increased from 13.9 percent in 1999-2000 to 17.1 percent in 2003-04. Research indicates that the prevalence of morbid obesity increases significantly faster than obesity alone (this research was compiled from adult research subjects), so the prevalence of morbid obesity in children is likely increasing as fast, if not faster, than obesity.

Epidemiologic data on morbid obesity are not currently available. However, the data for obesity alone in 2003-04 indicate that 16.3 percent of Caucasian children, 19.2 percent of Mexican-American children, and 20.0 percent of African-American children were above the 95th percentile for BMI.

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