CHILD HEALTH ISSUE

Child Health Issue



Child Health Issue

Introduction

 Childhood obesity is an ongoing epidemic that is plaguing adults and children alike. But it is affecting our children in a way that we cannot explain. Medically there is a cure for obesity. But everyone has to play there part if we are to rid this disease from our society. We have to gain information and awareness in order to defeat this disease.

Defining and diagnosing obesity can vary greatly within the medical field. "A condition characterized by the excessive accumulation and storage of fat in the body" is the official definition of obesity (Britannica Online, [nd]. But according to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academics (2004), obesity means "an excess amount of subcutaneous body fat in proportion to lean body mass." There are many ways physicians and dieticians use to measure obesity. One way is called BMI or Body Mass Index. According to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academics (2004), the meaning of BMI or Body Mass Index is, "An indirect measure of body fat calculated as the ratio of a person's body weight in kilograms to the square of a person's height in meters.

BMI (kg/m") = weight (kilograms) ÷ height (meters)"

Discussion

Different references based on weight-for-height indexes such as BMI and weight-for-height have been proposed to classify child and adolescent body weight status, and these references vary considerably ([Must et al., 1991], [World Health Organization Expert Committee, 1995] and [Himes and Dietz, 1994]; [Cole et al., 2000], [Kuczmarski et al., 2000] and [Wang, 2004]). Several widely used references are listed in Table 1. In the United States, the sex- and age-specific BMI 85th and 95th percentiles are used to classify childhood obesity. Several other countries, such as China, France, the United Kingdom, Singapore, and the Netherlands, have developed their own BMI-for-age, gender-specific reference charts using local data. The BMI cut points of these national references differ considerably.

Table 1.

Different classifications of childhood overweight and obesity

Overweight

Obesity

Data and reference population

Reference

World Health Organization Reference

(1) Child (6-9 years): weight-for-height >2 Z-scoresa; (2) Adolescent (10-18 years): BMI 85th percentile (called “at risk of overweight”)

(1) Child (6-9 years): No reference. (2) Adolescent (10-18 years): =BMI 85th percentile, and subscapular and triceps skinfolds =90th percentile

US NHANES I data (1971-74)

World Health Organization, 1995

IOTF Reference

=BMI-for-age cutoffs derived from BMI-age curves passed BMI of 25 at age 18

=BMI-for-age cutoffs derived from BMI-age curves passed BMI of 30 at age 18

Data from the United States, Brazil, Britain, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, and Singapore

Cole et al., 2000

'Old' US BMI Percentiles

=BMI 85th percentile (called “at risk of overweight”)

=BMI 95th percentile (called “overweight”)

U.S. NHANES I data (1971-74)

Must et al., 1991

'New' US Percentiles (2000 CDC Growth Chart)

=BMI 85th percentile (called “at risk of overweight”)

=BMI 95th percentile (called “overweight”)

U.S. NHANES data (1971-1994)

Kuczmarski et al., 2000

Europe-French BMI reference

=BMI 90th percentiles

=BMI 97th percentiles

Data collected for the French population

[Poskitt, 1995] and [Rolland-Cachera et al., 1991]

Abbreviations: BMI, Body Mass Index; CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; IOTF, International Obesity Task Force; NHANES, National Health and Nutrition Examination ...