Detecting overweight children in primary care: do national data reflect the typical urban practice?

Primary care physicians can easily identify overweight in children aged < 2 years using body-mass index. There is no consensus on the appropriate way of identifying overweight before age 2 years. However, the primary care physician should be alert if the body-mass index of a child < 2 years of age is significantly higher then those published (as a guideline) in this paper. Overweight is occurring early. Thus it is essential that primary care physicians focus on identifying overweight as early as preschool age. Primary care physicians have to pay particular attention to identifying overweight in non-Hispanic black children aged 2 to 11 years, who may have a higher prevalence of being at risk for overweight compared with 1999-2002 national data. Children seen for a sick-child visit may be at higher risk for overweight; thus, we recommend that height and weight measurements be obtained during these visits.