STATCAST – Week of March 4, 2019

TRANSCRIPT

March is National Kidney Month. More than 5.1 million adults in the United States have kidney disease, according to the National Health Interview Survey, which is conducted by CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. Vital statistics from NCHS show that in 2017, Kidney Disease was the 9^th leading cause of death in America. More than 50,000 Americans died during the year from kidney disease. That number is up from over 35,000 who died from the disease in 1999. The death rate from kidney disease, however, has held fairly steady since 1999, at around 13 deaths per 100,000 population, increasing to as high as 15.3 in 2010 before declining again. These data come directly from death certificates filed in all 50 states and the District of Columbia as part of the National Vital Statistics System.

March is also National Nutrition Month. Diet and nutrition are important public health priorities in a nation where over 7 in 10 adults are either overweight or obese. NCHS collects a wide range of data that provide insight into what America eats. For example, nearly 37% of adults consume fast food on any given day, according to data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, or NHANES.

Obesity is not just a problem for adults – NHANES data also show that nearly 1 in 5 children and adolescents are obese, and dietary data provide some possible clues why. Data on beverage consumption among American youth, for example, show that soft drinks account for one-fifth of all beverages consumed.

For more dietary data from NHANES, visit the NCHS web site at: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs