D.S., a 14 yr old comes from Elburn, for physical with his mom. He denies any medical problems. But on examination his blood pressure is 160/90 and his weight is more than 250lbs. His lab test shows total cholesterol more than 240. Mom states that he has family history of obesity in dad side. D.S. does like to eat junk food and not very interested in sports activities….
Unfortunately, This is a common scenario in today’s pediatric and family medicine clinics…
Some facts about childhood obesity:
• Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years.
• The percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 18% in 2012. Similarly, the percentage of adolescents aged 12–19 years who were obese increased from 5% to nearly 21% over the same period.
• In 2012, more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese.
• Overweight is defined as having excess body weight for a particular height from fat, muscle, bone, water, or a combination of these factors. Obesity is defined as having excess body fat.
• Overweight and obesity are the result of “caloric imbalance”—too few calories expended for the amount of calories consumed—and are affected by various genetic, behavioral, and environmental factors.
