Overweight and obesity prevalence has increased over the past 30 years. Few studies have looked at the enrolled Military Health System (MHS) population (2.2 million per year). This descriptive study examined trends in overweight and obesity in both children and adults from fiscal years 2009 to 2012 and compared them to the U.S. population. Prevalence in MHS children decreased over time for overweight (14.2-13.8%) and obesity (11.7-10.9%). Active duty adults showed an increase in overweight prevalence (52.7-53.4%) and a decrease in obesity prevalence (18.9-18.3%). For nonactive duty, both overweight and obesity prevalence remained relatively unchanged around 33%. For both children and adults, overweight and obesity prevalence increased with age, except for obesity in the nonactive duty ≥ 65 subgroup. When compared to the United States by gender and age, MHS children generally had a lower overweight and obesity prevalence, active duty adults had higher overweight and lower obesity prevalence, and nonactive duty adults had comparable overweight and obesity prevalence, except for obesity in both men in the 40 to 59 subgroup and women in ≥ 60 subgroup. More research on the MHS population is needed to identify risk factors and modifiable health behaviors that could defeat the disease of obesity.

Evidence-based articles have demonstrated an increase in diabetes prevalence, but diabetes prevalence in the enrolled Military Health System population was previously understudied. Variability in diabetes prevalence rates calculated from 5 groups of algorithms was examined in the Military Health System population (3 million enrollees per year) from fiscal years 2006 to 2010. Time trend analysis and rate comparisons to the U.S. population were also performed. Increasing linear trends in diabetes prevalence from 2006 to 2010 were seen in all algorithms, though considerable rate variation was observed within each study year. Prevalence increased with age, except for a slight decrease in those ≥75 years. Overall diagnosed diabetes prevalence ranged from 7.26% to 11.22% in 2006 and from 8.29% to 13.55% in 2010. Prevalence among active duty members remained stable, but a significant upward trend was observed among nonactive duty members across study years. Age-standardized rates among nonactive duty females were higher than the U.S. population rates from 2006 to 2010. This study demonstrates prevalence rate variability because of differing case algorithms and shows evidence of a growing diabetes population in the Military Health System, specifically within the nonactive duty 45 years and older demographic groups. Further research of this population should focus on validation of case definitions.

Metabolic syndrome prevalence in the United States rose from 27% to 34.2% between 1999-2000 and 1999-2006. However, prevalence has not been determined in the Military Health System. This retrospective descriptive study included enrolled Military Health System adults during fiscal years 2009-2012. We explored three populations (nonactive duty, active duty, and Air Force active duty) and their metabolic syndrome components (body mass index or waist circumference, blood glucose test, triglyceride, high density lipoprotein, and blood pressure). The active duty sample (who had all five components measured) was representative of its population, but the nonactive duty sample was not. Therefore, we reported component-wise prevalence for both nonactive and active duty populations, but only reported prevalence of metabolic syndrome for active duty. A decreasing trend, greater in men, was seen. Crude prevalence in 2012 was higher among men and highest among males and females aged 45-64. Only Air Force active duty data contained waist circumference measurements, enabling comparison to the United States. This subgroup prevalence was significantly lower than the United States prevalence in 2010 for both genders in every age group. Although decreasing metabolic syndrome prevalence is promising, prevalence is still high and future research should explore policies to help lower the prevalence.