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Determining rates of overweight and obese status in children using electronic medical records: Cross-sectional study

Catherine S Birken1, Karen Tu2, William Oud3

  • 1Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto in Ontario, Scientist in Child Health Evaluative Sciences in the SickKids Research Institute at the Hospital for Sick Children, and Associate Professor in the Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto. catherine.birken@sickkids.ca.

Canadian Family Physician Medecin De Famille Canadien
|February 18, 2017
PubMed

Insights

This study found higher obesity rates in young children (1-4 years) and early adolescents (10-14 years). Electronic medical records show potential for tracking child overweight and obesity trends.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatrics
  • Public Health
  • Health Informatics

Background:

  • Childhood overweight and obesity are significant public health concerns.
  • Accurate surveillance is crucial for developing effective interventions.
  • Electronic medical records offer a potential data source for population-based monitoring.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine the prevalence of overweight and obese status in children aged 0-19 years.
  • To analyze prevalence by age group, sex, and visit type.
  • To assess the utility of Electronic Medical Record Administrative data Linked Database (EMRALD) for surveillance.

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective analysis of height and weight data from well-child visits (January 2010-December 2011) in Ontario.
  • Used World Health Organization growth reference standards for classification.
  • Compared overweight/obese status by age, sex, and visit type.

Main Results:

  • Obesity rates were higher in 1-4 year olds (6.1%) and 10-14 year olds (12.0%) compared to other age groups.
  • Boys aged 1-4 and 10-14 had higher obesity rates than girls.
  • Overweight and obese status rates were lower when using data from well-child visits versus other visit types.

Conclusions:

  • Electronic medical records, like EMRALD, can be valuable for population-based surveillance of childhood overweight and obesity.
  • Development of standardized methodologies is necessary for reliable data collection and analysis.
  • Further research is needed to refine the use of EMR data for public health monitoring.
Abstract

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