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Literature Review: Prevention And Control Of Childhood Obesity

Literature Reviews

Prevention and Control of Childhood Obesity

In quest of finding causes, preventions and control of childhood obesity, several health professionals have participated in the studies of obesity in children and teenagers. Below is a scrutiny of some data and pieces of information from few studies and articles.
In the article Identification, Evaluation, and Management of Obesity in an Academic Primary Care Center, O’Brien et al performed a study to find out how other health workers were dealing with childhood obesity. The purpose of this study, according to the article, was to determine the rates of identification of obesity by pediatric residents, nurse practitioners, and faculty members in an academic primary care setting and to describe actions taken by these providers in their evaluation and management of obesity.
Using a large primary care practice that serves predominantly urban minority (70% African Americans) and Medical Assistance insured (90%) population, located in a tertiary-care academic pediatric hospital, a two month retrospective medical record review of all health supervision visits for children 3 months to 16 years of age, was performed between December 1, 2001 and February 28, 2002.
A weight greater than 120% of the 50th percentile of weight-for-height (for children5 years) was used to define obesity.
Of the 2515 visits reviewed, 244 patients met the study definition of obesity, yielding an estimated prevalence of obesity visits of 9.7% among health supervision visits for children 3 months to 16 years of age. Only 53% (129 visits) of the reviewed visits of the 244 patients was documented as obesity by providers. Of the charts (69%) which contained adequate dietary viewing, only 15% included a description of the child’s activity level and Television viewing. Obesity was noted in the physical examination in 39% of cases.
For the 129 children identified with obesity, 81% of cases contained an adequate dietary history,...