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Wednesday, April 9th, 2014

Obesity in Kids Costs Billions

Author:     SALYNN BOYLES
Source:     MedPage Today
Publication Date:     8-Apr-14
 Link: Obesity in Kids Costs Billions
Stephan:   We reap what we sow as a country. Much of this child obesity arises from toxins and pollutants in the environment. Whatever the source when one tracks it back to fundamentals it always gets down to profit for the few, at the risk of wellness for the many. Primary source: JAMA Pediatrics Source reference: Skinner AC, Skelton JA "Prevalence and trends in obesity and severe obesity among children in the United States, 1999-2012" JAMA Pediatrics 2014; DOI: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2014.21. Additional source: Pediatrics Source reference:Finkelsten EA, et al "Lifetime direct medical costs of childhood obesity" Pediatrics 2014; 133: 1-9.

The overall rate of childhood obesity in the U.S. appears to be stabilizing, but the prevalence of extreme obesity among children and teens continues to rise, according to an analysis of national data.

From 1999 to 2012 in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database, severe obesity increased from 3.8% (95% CI 2.7-4.9, P=0.04) to 5.9% (95% CI 4.4-7.4, P=0.04) in the 2- to 19-year-old age group and the prevalence of even more extreme obesity increased from 0.9% (95% CI 0.6-1.3, P=0.002) to 2.1% (95% CI 1.6-2.7, P=0.002), wrote Asheley Cockrell Skinner, PhD, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in JAMA Pediatrics.

“Nationally representative data do not show any significant changes in obesity prevalence in the most recently available years … unfortunately, there is an upward trend of more severe forms of obesity, and further investigations into the causes of and solutions to this problem are needed,” Skinner and co-author Joseph Skelton, MD, of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., said.

The analysis was one of two studies examining pediatric obesity published this week. A second study in the May Pediatrics suggested that, over the course of a lifetime, higher medical costs associated with childhood obesity average about […]

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