Obesity and severe obesity prevalence among youth aged 2-17 in Minnesota, 2020-2025.

OBJECTIVE

Existing sources for monitoring pediatric obesity prevalence are limited by delayed data availability and insufficient granularity for small-area estimates. We used data from the Minnesota Electronic Health Record Consortium's Health Trends Across Communities (HTAC) project to estimate obesity and severe obesity prevalence among Minnesota youth.

METHODS

In serial cross-sectional analyses, HTAC data were obtained from 11 health systems in Minnesota. Patients aged 2-17 years with a valid body mass index (BMI) measurement at a participating health system from 2020 to 2025 were included. Obesity was defined as BMI ≥95th percentile for age and sex, and severe obesity as BMI ≥120% of the 95th percentile. Results are reported as prevalence estimates stratified by sociodemographic characteristics.

RESULTS

Among 486,744 youth with BMI measured in 2025, 80,360 (16.5%, 95% CI: 16.4, 16.6) had obesity and 25,776 (5.3%, 95% CI: 5.2, 5.4) had severe obesity. Prevalence was higher among youth 12-17 years, males, and youth who were American Indian, Black, or Hispanic, and among those living in small towns or rural communities and in areas of high social vulnerability.

CONCLUSIONS

HTAC data provide timely pediatric obesity and severe obesity prevalence estimates in Minnesota and may serve as a model for other regions.