Obesity in Pediatrics  

                     AAP Recommendations       Blood Pressure    CDC Growth Charts    BMI

AAP web site http://www.aap.org/obestiy/

The increase in the number of overweight children, and the related health and financial problems, are issues every pediatrician faces on a daily basis.

The AAP policy statement titled Prevention of Pediatric Overweight and Obesity (this is a pdf format) proposes strategies to foster prevention and early identification of overweight and obesity in children.

Body mass index (BMI), the ratio of weight to height, has been identified by AAP as a tool to diagnose overweight and obesity.

 

AAP Recommendations
From the Prevention of Pediatric Overweight and Obesity, Pediatrics. 2003;112:424-430
 

Health Supervision Recommendations

  • Identify and track patients at risk by virtue of family history, birth weight, or socioeconomic, ethnic, cultural, or environmental factors.
  • Calculate and plot BMI once a year in all children and adolescents.
  • Use change in BMI to identify rate of excessive weight gain relative to linear growth.
  • Encourage, support, and protect breastfeeding.
  • Encourage parents and caregivers to promote healthy eating patterns by offering nutritious snacks, such as vegetables and fruits, low-fat dairy foods, and whole grains; encouraging children's autonomy in self-regulation of food intake and setting appropriate limits on choices; and modeling healthy food choices.
  • Routinely promote physical activity, including unstructured play at home, in school, in childcare settings, and throughout the community.
  • Recommend limitation of television and video time to a maximum of 2 hours per day.
  • Recognize and monitor changes in obesity-associated risk factors for adult chronic disease, such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, hyperinsulinemia, impaired glucose tolerance, and symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.

Advocacy Recommendations

  • Help parents, teachers, coaches, and others who influence youth to discuss health habits, not body build, as part of their efforts to control overweight and obesity.
  • Enlist policy makers from local, state, and national organizations and schools to support a healthful lifestyle for all children, including proper diet and adequate opportunity for regular physical activity.
  • Encourage organizations that are responsible for health care and health care financing to provide coverage for effective obesity prevention and treatment strategies.
  • Encourage public and private sources to direct funding toward research into effective strategies to prevent overweight and obesity and to maximize limited family and community resources to achieve healthful outcomes for youth.
  • Support and advocate for social marketing intended to promote healthful food choices and increased physical activity.


 

Systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels for children and teenagers have risen substantially since 1988.

Previously published data indicate that, for each 1- to 2-millimeter of mercury rise in their systolic blood pressure, children face a 10 percent greater risk of developing hypertension as a young adult. 

High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart disease and the chief risk factor for stroke.

 "The obesity-related rise in blood pressure among American children is a serious health issue," said NHLBI Acting Director Dr. Barbara Alving. "We need to take steps to reverse this trend. One key step is to give physicians tools that can help them deal with this problem, which is why we're issuing these new guidelines

 May 4, 2004- National Institutes of Health (NIH) news release, Blood Pressure Levels Among Children/Teenagers,

 I have attached a copy. Just click on the URL to load the pdf file or if you would like theNIH URL link just follow.

http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/may2004/nhlbi-04.htm

 

CDC Growth Charts

http://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/

BMI

NIH web site 

http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/growthcharts/bmi_tools.htm

Charts for ages 2 years to 20 From NIH on NDAAP.org

 

 

 

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