Childhood and Adolescent Obesity: A Growing National Concern

Childhood and Adolescent Obesity : A Growing National Concern

Introduction

Obesity is a complex , multi-factorial disease involving mechanisms of energy intake and expenditure , genetic factors , environmental , and psychosocial issues . Obesity has emerged as a worldwide epidemic and has become a serious public health problem in the United States and in developing countries undergoing fast economic transition . In the adult individual obesity is measured by the body mass index (BMI , which is defined as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared (kg /m2 .The American Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC

br use a different system to classify excessive weight in children between the ages of 2 and 20 than in adults because children 's body fat differs by sex , age , and degree of maturation . Adults are overweight if their BMI (defined as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared ranges between 25 and 30 and obese if it equals or exceeds 30 . In contrast , the CDC recommends the use of sex- and age-specific BMIs to assess children , and does not use obese ' because of its stigma (National Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion 2004 . Children are defined as at risk of overweight ' if their BMI for age falls between the 85th and 95th percentiles on the CDC sex-specific growth charts and overweight ' if it equals or exceeds the 95th percentile . The 95th percentile is slightly above a BMI of 25 for 13-yearold boys and increases to a BMI of 29 for 18-yearold boys and above 30 for 20-year-old males . The 95th percentile for girls ' BMI ranges from slightly above 26 at age 13 to almost 32 at age 20 (Crossman , Sullivan , Benin , 2006

Childhood obesity

The definition of childhood obesity has changed over the years using such measurements as height and weight , skin fold , etc . as surrogates of body adiposity . The lack of a standardized definition has limited research and may have missed at risk individuals . The most commonly used definition outside of international data is : For children , overweight BMI 85 percentile and obesity BMI 95 percentile

Although most parents would like to believe that their child 's obesity is due to a hormonal aberration , such as hypothyroidism , Cushing disease or a genetic defect , the reality is that increased caloric intake and decreased energy expenditure play a prominent role in the rise in obesity among children . The problem is more difficult in children compared with adults , as the child will still have energy requirements for growth (Ross and Scott , 2006 . Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the U .S . and many other industrialized nations around the world . There is grave concern about this trend and the impact that it will have on the health of our children now and as they become adults . The increase in the prevalence of morbid obesity has also led to a greater interest in bariatric or weight loss surgery not just in adults but adolescents as well (Ross and Scott , 2006

Among the changes that affect children 's energy...