Childhood Obesity - USPSTF gets this one right

[mchristi]

The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) now recommends screening children age 6 and older for obesity using BMI as a screening tool. A BMI at or above the 85th to the 94th percentile is classified as overweight and a BMI over this range is considered obesity. They also make evidence-based recommendations for interventions.

This problem is epidemic in our world today and we need to take this recommendation seriously. How are you doing?

Mark Christiansen, PA-C

[care4U]

I work in a SBHC and do school-entry physicals. I sometimes do the BMI, but not consistently. Many of the kids I do physicals for are for other schools, so no follow up. However, admittedly it would be beneficial to have that on the blue form so the school nurse doesn't have to calculate. I also do some school nursing for a Christian school, grades K4-11, and out of about 65 blue forms received from various doctor's offices, I have seen probably less than 5 BMI's reported (I know the BMI I saw yesterday was from an APRN at Yale Primary Care). Thank you for the reminder about the importance of reporting that so interventions can be started when needed.

[rjrudij]

I think all health care providers agree that obesity and childhood obesity is out of control. However, doing BMIs are just a small part of what needs to be done. We need legislation to enact controls over what goes into foods (salt, saturated fat, transfat and high fructose corn syrup) to name a few. We also need to seriously overhall the school lunch program to conform to healthy practices and to have PE every day at school from K through 12. If we can get children and their parents to stick to a healthy diet and exercise then a large part of the problem will be resolved. Also if you do have a 6 year old with obesity it will not benefit tremendously to tell the parents that their child is in the 99th % for their weight if there are not age appropriate diet and exercise program and program that include the entire family. There is a lot of work to be done in this area. With all of that we should be doing BMIs on all our patients and letting them know what the BMIs are. Some health care providers may not want to make their patients mad because they may not return. Very touchy for many people. What are your thoughts?