Oxford

c (surprise) sorprender
• catch up
1 [v + adv] (draw level): I missed three weeks’ classes, and it was a struggle to catch up perdí tres semanas de clase y me costó ponerme al día; we used to be market
leaders, but now other countries are catching up antes éramos los líderes del mercado pero ahora otros países nos están alcanzando; to catch up WITH/ON sb/sth: she
had to catch up with o on the rest of the class/the work she’d missed tuvo que ponerse al nivel del resto de la clase/al día con el trabajo; you go on ahead, I’ll catch up
with you later ustedes vayan delante, que yo ya los alcanzo; all those late nights eventually caught up on o with me todas esas trasnochadas finalmente pudieron más
que yo; I called Sue to catch up with o on the latest gossip llamé a Sue para ponerme al día con los últimos chismes or al tanto de los últimos chismes; I need to catch
up on my sleep tengo que recuperar el sueño perdido
2 a [v + o + adv] (draw level with) (BrE) ‹ leader / group › alcanzar*
b [v + o + adv, v + adv + o] (pick up) recoger*
3 (trap, involve) to be/get caught up in sth: I was completely caught up in my thoughts estaba totalmente absorto or ensimismado en mis pensamientos; I got caught up in
the traffic me agarró or (esp Esp) me cogió el tráfico; she got caught up in the scandal se vio envuelta en el escándalo

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Note added at 5 mins (2006-06-25 13:13:31 GMT)
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You have to catch up to something or someone. In this sense, it is used as a comparison. Perhaps what is stated in the entire paragraph or sentence is: Germany is catching up to us (U.S. is the most obese nation in the world) in obesity.

más opciones :)

otro

:)

...si no se compara expresamente con los niveles en EE.UU. , que allí se considera como un problema grave.