Childhood obesity

[摘要] Scott Brown is right to draw attention to the absence of primary care involvement in the problem of childhood obesity.1 In our flagship university-linked research & teaching practice, awarded Beacon status for clinical excellence, we are barely registering the extent and seriousness of obesity in children, let alone responding to it. In August 2006 we had 2748 patients aged 0–16 years, with BMI measurements recorded for just 128 (4.6%). In 2005 13 children had obesity documented in their records as an active problem, of whom five were brought by parents because of their weight, and four others presented with problems potentially linked to their weight — asthma, joint pains, snoring. Five were referred to a paediatrician or a dietician, and nine were followed up during the year by their usual doctor. Nine had one parent with a BMI over 25 (three were obese), and in six both parents were overweight.

[学科分类] 卫生学