Child obesity and poverty rates continue to increase, says report

• Child obesity has more than tripled in three decades and the increased health risk associated with being fat has wiped out progress in other areas, according to a report issued on Wednesday.
• The annual report on U.S. child welfare from Duke University and the Foundation for Child Development also found that the poverty rate for families with children hit 17.2 percent in 2003, the worst it has been since 1998.
• Those findings overshadowed the overall gain for U.S. children, who were found to be having far fewer babies, smoking less and using fewer illegal drugs.
• The report's overall measurement, called the Child Well-Being Index, has improved 4.5 percent since 1995.
• But an estimated 15 percent of U.S. children are overweight or obese, and studies show they are developing type-2 diabetes, high blood cholesterol and even high blood pressure at rates that greatly raise their heart disease risk.
• The index is based on various reports on health, income, educational status, safety issues, community involvement and emotional and spiritual well-being.
• A major plus, the report said, was the drop in the adolescent and teen birth rate from a peak of 20.05 births per 1,000 teenage girls in 1991 to a projected rate of 11.5 births per 1,000 girls for 2003.
• And fewer high school students were smoking or using illegal drugs.
• Illegal drug use has fallen from 30.7 percent of high school seniors in 1975 to 23.4 percent in 2004.
• And violent criminal activity among adolescents and teens fell by more than 64 percent since 1975, while the rate of violent crimes against children fell by more than 38 percent, the report said.
• "In fundamental areas such as health, financial security, and education, our children are either doing poorly or barely treading water," Foundation President Ruby Takanishi said.