Obesity is an excess percentage of body weight due to fat that puts people at risk for many health problems. In children older than 2 years of age, obesity is assessed by a measure called the Body Mass Index (BMI). Children and adolescents with a BMI over the 85% but less than 95th percentile are considered overweight and those with a BMI greater than the 95th percentile are considered obese.
What are the Current Trends?
Nearly a third of today’s children are overweight or obese.1 As a result these children are at increased risk of developing diseases such as, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoarthritis, stroke, certain kinds of cancer, and other debilitating diseases. The medical costs and indirect costs of overweight and obese children are putting a significant burden on our current health care system. However, the ultimate cost of obesity is the reduced quality of life and shorter life span. 2
In addition to the physical health consequences, overweight and obese children also suffer from social and emotional health consequences. These consequences are often overlooked but should not be. Obese children have lower self-esteem, are more likely to be depressed, suffer from bullying and teasing, and have lower academic achievement. 3
There are several promising opportunities to combat childhood obesity through policy intervention and environmental change. By actively promoting physical activity, healthy eating habits, and raising awareness of the obesity epidemic, we can successfully reverse the current trends of childhood overweight and obesity. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is committed to children’s health and recognizes that childhood overweight and obesity as serious health concerns for all children.
What is the Role of the Medical Home?
Every child must have access to a medical home that will provide continuity of care and coordinate the services received from various sources. Without a medical home, the child and family receive fragmented advice and services. The medical home is critical for children who are overweight or obese because their progress must be tracked methodically. Family-centered care is a key component in the medical home; children have limited control over the foods they eat or are served and the amount of physical activity they participate in. By actively engaging the family in the child’s care, you are more likely to identify the resources that meet the child’s needs within the medical home.
National AAP Overweight and Obesity Initiatives Web Site
More information and resources are provided from the AAP on the Prevention of Overweight and Obesity Web site. The purpose of the site is to bring awareness to serious health problem of childhood overweight and obesity; empower pediatricians and families to take action in their homes, offices, and communities to prevent childhood obesity; and to support pediatricians, families, and community advocates in improving the health status of those children who are already overweight and obese. This site features resources for pediatricians at the point of care as well as resources for families and for policy makers to use at home and in the community.
Prevention of Obesity Policy Opportunities Tool (POPOT) The Prevention of Obesity Policy Opportunities Tool (POPOT) is a Web-based tool created for health care professionals (HCPs) who have experience in advocacy and are interested in focusing their advocacy effort on obesity prevention. Based on the 5,2,1,0, body mass index screening and breastfeeding framework, the tool provides strategies to prevent obesity that HCPs can use at the practice, community, school, state and federal levels.
Sound Advice on Healthy Living To help parents guide their families in healthy lifestyles, the AAP has created a series of audio interviews with pediatricians who are experts in nutrition and fitness—and getting kids to eat their vegetables. Listen to interviews covering obesity, picky eaters, vitamin recommendations, infant feeding, exercise, and other topics. Parents can get practical advice first-hand from leading experts in the field. Transcripts of the interviews also are available.
Be Our Voice As part of the Mobilizing Healthcare Professionals as Community Leaders in the Fight Against Childhood Obesity program, the Be Our Voice campaign engages healthcare professionals as the voice of children in the fight against childhood obesity, ensuring that this collective voice is heard by legislators who make and enforce the rules and regulations that affect children's health. The campaign aims to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic trend across the nation by training, supporting, and providing technical assistance to healthcare professionals in becoming advocates for change within their communities. This is a project of the National Initiative of Children’s Healthcare Quality (NICHQ), in cooperation with the AAP, and the California Medical Association Foundation, sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity.
Preventing Childhood Obesity in Early Care and Education Programs
This set of national standards describing evidence-based best practices in nutrition, physical activity, and screen time for early care and education programs was just released, and was featured at the Early Childhood 2010 conference in Washington, DC. These updated standards will be a part of the new comprehensive Caring for Our Children: National Health and Safety Performance Standards; Guidelines for Early Care and Education Programs, Third Edition to be released in 2011.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity The Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity (DNPAO) is working to reduce obesity and obesity-related conditions through state programs, technical assistance and training, leadership, surveillance and research, intervention development and evaluation, translation of practice-based evidence and research findings, and partnership development.
Let’s Move Child Care Checklist
The checklist underscores five principles, including one to two hours of daily exercise and zero screen time for children younger than 2. The checklist is a guide for parents and child-care centers to help improve children's health. She also noted that 1,600 child-care centers in the US have committed to promoting healthy eating and exercise habits.
Obesity and Related Co-Morbidities Coding Fact Sheet for Primary Care Pediatricians AAP Division of Health Care Finance and Quality Improvement
While coding for the care of children with obesity and related co-morbidities is relatively straightforward, ensuring that appropriate reimbursement is received for such services is a more complicated matter. Many insurance carriers will deny claims submitted with "obesity" codes (e.g., 278.00), essentially carving out obesity-related care from the scope of benefits. Therefore, coding for obesity services is fundamentally a two-tiered system, where the first tier requires that the provider submit claims using appropriate codes and the second tier involves the practice-level issues of denial management and contract negotiation.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center to Prevent Childhood Obesity A national organization dedicated to reversing childhood obesity by changing public policies and creating healthy environments in schools and communities. The center helps to shape and coordinate the efforts of policy-makers, advocates and community organizations by identifying and promoting the most promising obesity-prevention strategies and supporting the nationwide movement to improve food and physical activity environments.
Video—Childhood Obesity: A Challenge Facing America
by Matthew Shimura - C-SPAN StudentCam 2010 First Prize MS Winner
Nearly a third of today’s children are overweight or obese.
