Washington, May 04: While the epidemic of childhood obesity has been dominating the news, it is for good reason that we keep this issue in the spotlight: the health of our children and the future of America is at risk. Last month, results of an analysis sponsored by Kaiser Permanente found that 37.1 percent of the children were overweight, 19.4 percent were obese, and 6.4 percent were extremely obese. Today we have results from the National Survey of Children’s Health which was conducted between 2003 and 2007.
As reported in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, the study results were very similar to that of the Kaiser report. Utilizing a cross section of over 44,000 individuals, researchers found the percentage of children 10 to 17 years old across the U.S. who were overweight rose from 31 percent in 2003 to 32 percent in 2004, while obesity rates went from 15 percent to 16 percent. What is markedly different with this new report is that it can be broken down by state. And it’s not good news for children living in the South.
At the top of the obesity scale was Mississippi, Arkansas and Alabama, while at the other end of the spectrum is Oregon, a state that seems to be fighting childhood obesity effectively and experienced a reduction in childhood obesity from when the study started in 2003. Also of note is that children in Illinois, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Georgia, and Kansas had more than twice the adjusted odds of being obese than children in Oregon.
The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF) issued new recommendations earlier this year urging doctors to routinely screen children six years of age and older for obesity and to refer them to intensive weight management programs when necessary. “There’s hope for successful treatment, and we hope that parents will ask their pediatrician if their child needs intervention,” said Dr. Ned Calonge, chief medical officer of the Colorado Department of Public Health and the USPSTF panel chair.
If you need help in encouraging your child to be active, check out our extensive archives of Kristen DeLeo’s The Fit Family column, which is chockfull of family fun and fitness, circuit training with kids, activities and helpful hints.
–Agencies–