Additional Information on Childhood Obesity
Childhood Obesity Facts
“Overweight and obesity may soon cause as much preventable disease and death as cigarette smoking. People tend to think of overweight and obesity as strictly a personal matter, but there is much that communities can and should do to address these problems.” (Surgeon General David Satcher)
Childhood obesity has doubled in the last 20 years. In the 1970s about seven percent of kids were obese; in 2000 15 percent of children were obese. (Surgeon General Website - Last revised: January 11, 2007)
Doctors say the biggest causes of childhood obesity are what and how much kids eat and how little they exercise.
Below is from the American Academy of Pediatrics
Obesity is associated with significant health problems in the pediatric age group and is an important early risk factor for much of adult morbidity and mortality.
Medical problems are common in obese children and adolescents and can affect cardiovascular health (hypercholesterolemia and dyslipidemia, hypertension), the endocrine system (hyperinsulinism, insulin resistance, impaired glucose tolerance, type 2 diabetes mellitus, menstrual irregularity), and mental health (depression, low self-esteem).
Because of the increasing incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus among obese adolescents and because diabetes-related morbidities may worsen if diagnosis is delayed, the clinician should be alert to the possibility of type 2 diabetes mellitus in all obese adolescents, especially those with a family history of early-onset (younger than 40 years) type 2 diabetes mellitus.
The psychologic stress of social stigmatization imposed on obese children may be just as damaging as the medical morbidities. The negative images of obesity are so strong that growth failure and pubertal delay have been reported in children practicing self-imposed caloric restriction because of fears of becoming obese.
Other important complications and associations include pulmonary (asthma, obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, pickwickian syndrome), orthopedic (genu varum, slipped capital femoral epiphysis), and gastrointestinal/hepatic (nonalcoholic steatohepatitis) complications. All these disturbances are seen at an increased rate in obese individuals and have become more common in the pediatric population.
The probability of childhood obesity persisting into adulthood is estimated to increase from approximately 20% at 4 years of age to approximately 80% by adolescence. In addition, it is probable that comorbidities will persist into adulthood.
Thus, the potential future health care costs associated with pediatric obesity and its comorbidities are staggering, prompting the surgeon general to predict that preventable morbidity and mortality associated with obesity may exceed those associated with cigarette smoking.
National survey data indicate that 20% of US children 8 to 16 years of age reported 2 or fewer bouts of vigorous physical activity per week, and more than 25% watched at least 4 hours of television per day. Children who watched 4 or more hours of television per day had significantly greater BMI, compared with those watching fewer than 2 hours per day. Furthermore, having a television in the bedroom has been reported to be a strong predictor of being overweight, even in preschool-aged children.
American Academy of Pediatrics Website PEDIATRICS Vol. 112 No. 2 August 2003
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