Childhood Obesity
- PDF / 159,087 Bytes
- 9 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 100 Downloads / 216 Views
GENERAL PRACTITIONER'S COLUMN
Guest Editor: Bhim S. Pandhi
Childhood Obesity Anju Seth & Rajni Sharma
Received: 28 May 2012 / Accepted: 22 November 2012 / Published online: 21 December 2012 # Dr. K C Chaudhuri Foundation 2012
Abstract Childhood obesity is an issue of serious medical and social concern. In developing countries including India, it is a phenomenon seen in higher socioeconomic strata due to the adoption of a western lifestyle. Consumption of high calorie food, lack of physical activity and increased screen time are major risk factors for childhood obesity apart from other genetic, prenatal factors and socio-cultural practices. Obese children and adolescents are at increased risk of medical and psychological complications. Insulin resistance is commonly present especially in those with central obesity and manifests as dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes mellitus, impaired glucose tolerance, hypertension, polycystic ovarian syndrome and metabolic syndrome. Obese children and adolescents often present to general physicians for management. The latter play a key role in prevention and treatment of obesity as it involves lifestyle modification of the entire family. This article aims at discussing the approach to diagnosis and work-up, treatment and preventive strategies for childhood obesity from a general physician’s perspective. Keywords Children . Overweight . Obesity . BMI . Metabolic syndrome . Insulin resistance . Management . Prevention
Introduction Obesity and its medical consequences including cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes are emerging as a serious public
A. Seth (*) : R. Sharma Division of Pediatric Endocrinology, Department of Pediatrics, Kalawati Saran Children’s Hospital, Bangla Sahib Road, New Delhi 110001, India e-mail: [email protected]
health concern in children worldwide [1]. In India, secular trends clearly demonstrate the steep rise in prevalence of childhood obesity especially in metropolitan cities [2]. A recent multi-centric study reported the prevalence of overweight and obesity in urban children in the age group of 8– 18 y to be 18.5 % and 5.3 %, respectively [3]. The parents of obese children and adolescents often seek advice from general physicians for treatment of this condition. Indeed, the general practitioner plays a key role in management as well as prevention of obesity that involves lifestyle changes for the entire family. This article aims at discussing the diagnostic approach and management of childhood obesity from a general physician’s perspective.
Definition of Obesity Body mass index [BMI 0 weight in kg/height in (m)2] is the most widely used parameter to assess obesity. Adults are considered overweight if their BMI is 25 to 29.9 kg/m2 and obese if it is ≥30 kg/m2 [4].In view of the increased tendency for cardiovascular risk at lower BMIs, it has been proposed to lower these cutoffs to 23 kg/m2 and 25 kg/m2, respectively for Asian Indians [5]. BMI changes with age in children and therefore absolute cutoffs are not appropriate for them. Instead, child
Data Loading...
