Diagnosis and treatment frequency for overweight children and adolescents at well child visits

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Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
09:36

Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study

Published on: February 2, 2017

Miriam V Louthan1, Margaret J Lafferty-Oza, Elizabeth R Smith

  • 1Department of Pediatrics, University of Louisville/School of Medicine, Louisville, KY 40202, USA.

Clinical Pediatrics
|January 29, 2005
PubMed

Insights

Pediatricians critically underdiagnose childhood obesity. In a study of well-child visits, only 29% of overweight children were correctly identified, highlighting a significant gap in recognizing this growing health concern.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Health
  • Public Health
  • Childhood Obesity Research

Background:

  • Childhood obesity is a significant and escalating global health issue.
  • Underrecognition of overweight and obesity by healthcare providers may impede timely intervention.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the accuracy of pediatricians in diagnosing overweight children during routine well-child visits.
  • To determine the frequency of correct identification of pediatric overweight status.

Main Methods:

  • A retrospective review of 473 consecutive well-child visits was conducted.
  • Physician diagnoses were compared against body mass index (BMI) percentiles for age and gender.

Main Results:

  • Only 27 out of 473 children (29%) with a BMI above the 95th percentile were diagnosed as overweight by their physicians.
  • This indicates a low rate of accurate diagnosis for pediatric overweight during routine care.

Conclusions:

  • The current frequency of diagnosing overweight children in well-child visits is critically low.
  • Improved clinical awareness and diagnostic practices are needed to address pediatric obesity effectively.

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