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Diabetes and obesity rates are rising among people in the 20–44 age bracket, according to a Journal of the American Medical Association study cited by The Hill.

What’s going on: “Over about a ten-year period from 2009 to 2020, diabetes prevalence … increased from 3 percent to just over 4 percent. Obesity rates increased from about 33 percent to about 41 percent. Prevalence rates of hypertension, or high blood pressure, also increased from 9 percent to nearly 12 percent, although the authors note that this was not a statistically significant change.”

• Black adults had the highest levels of hypertension, according to the study, which also found “a significant rise in diabetes in Mexican American adults” as well as an increase in hypertension among Mexican American and Hispanic adults.
• However … The study noted an overall decline in the prevalence of hyperlipidemia, which is characterized by high levels of fat in the blood.

Why it’s important: “‘The national increases in diabetes and obesity among young adults in the US have major public health implications,’ write the authors. ‘These results highlight the need for public health and clinical interventions, especially as these risk factors can affect lifetime rates of heart attack, stroke and heart failure.’”