Every so often on The PediaBlog, we take a peek at the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health to see what parents rank as the biggest health concerns their children and teenagers face. Since 2007, when the researchers began polling randomly selected adults with at least one child between the ages of 0-18 living in their household, childhood obesity has ranked at or near the top of parental worries. This year, obesity doesn’t even make the top 10: 2023 Top 10 Child Health Concerns for Parents: 1. Overuse of devices/screen time (67%) 2. Social media (66%) 3. In ..read more

*This post originally appeared on The PediaBlog on April  28, 2016.   Early Warning     We begin screening for high cholesterol at the 4-year-old checkup by asking parents (usually with the help of a questionnaire) whether or not they or their close relatives have been diagnosed with high cholesterol, are taking medications to treat high cholesterol, have a history of early heart disease (under the age of 55), or don’t know their family history. If any of these questions are answered in the affirmative, pediatricians might be compelled to check a child’s complete ..read more

  According to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 74% of adults in the United States are either overweight or obese. Based on their body mass index, 42% of Americans are obese (BMI = 30kg/m² or higher) and 32% are overweight (BMI = 25.0-29.9). In 2000, the U.S. obesity prevalence was just above 30%. Twenty years later, it is 42% and showing no signs of slowing. In the same timeframe, severe obesity (BMI = 40.0 and higher) nearly doubled in prevalence from 5% to 9%. In addition to being common, obesity is a serious, and costly disease. 6 in 10 a ..read more

  A new study published in JAMA Network Open last week found that adequate physical activity and lower screen time during adolescents appears to be an important recipe for maintaining normal body weight. Importantly for teenagers, one without the other doesn’t do it. We already know that sedentary behavior increases the risk of developing overweight and obesity, which the National Institutes of Health recognizes as a chronic disease. For teenagers especially, the behavior and the consequences only got worse during the pandemic: Currently, the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americ ..read more

Letter To A Fictitious Teen By Brian W. Donnelly, M.D., F.A.B.M. AHN Pediatrics Northland     Yesterday on The PediaBlog, we learned about new guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics for evaluating and treating overweight and obesity in children and adolescents. Today, Dr. Brian Donnelly puts those lessons into practice.   Dear Emilio, I understand your mother had lost her job, and then her apartment, and so couldn’t afford the phone service right now. Sorry for that inconvenience. I hope this e-mail helps explain some of the things we had talked about the other ..read more

Last week on The PediaBlog, we learned about a new approach for treating two chronic childhood and adult diseases — overweight and obesity. The new guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics complements existing recommendations from health providers urging patients to make lifestyle modifications around healthy eating and physical activity in order to drive weight reduction. We reviewed the growing concerns over a worsening problem involving American youth and its dangerous health consequences — type 2 diabetes, chronic lung disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, joint problems, men ..read more

  Earlier this month, the American Academy of Pediatrics published a clinical practice guideline covering the evaluation and treatment of children and adolescents diagnosed with overweight (body mass index between the 85th and 95th percentile) and obesity (BMI greater than 95th percentile). The document is meant to assist pediatricians and other pediatric health care providers in managing two very common and worsening chronic health problems (obesity has been designated by the National Institutes of Health as a chronic disease): The current and long-term health of 14.4 million chil ..read more

GENERATION PEP “DANCE 10000” from Filip Nilsson on Vimeo: In many parts of the world, children are leading an increasingly sedentary lifestyle, threatening both their short and long-term health. But the Swedish non-profit organization Generation Pep wants to change that – by creating a unique choreographed dance featuring 10.000 steps, to the iconic track D.A.N.C.E by Justice. Starring the 9-year-old dancing prodigy Lilyana Ilunga. “Dance 10.000” is a global campaign created to inspire children and young people to move, while at the same time highlighting the problems and consequences of a s ..read more

            Obesity prevalence in children and adolescents, by age, race, and Hispanic origin, United States, 2015 to 2018. *   *   *   *   *   September is National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. Sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the monthlong observance shines a light on the growing epidemic of childhood obesity and provides guidance on prevention and treatment. According to the CDC, nearly one out of every five children and teenagers (19.7%) living in America today earns a diagnosis of obesity based on th ..read more

  Even before the pandemic began, the average body mass index (BMI) for young adults 18-25 years of age was 27.7 — well within the range of overweight. We recently discovered that more children have joined the ranks of the overweight and obese during the pandemic. Nearly half (46%) of American children between 5 and 11 years old were found to be either overweight or obese in 2020. Only a year before (prior to the start of the pandemic), 36% of kids 5-11 were considered overweight or obese. That’s a gain of ten percentage points in just one year!   Kristen Monaco points t ..read more