Prevalence of overweight and obesity in a U.S. pediatric surgical population

• Published in: Journal of the National Medical Association 2007, Vol.99 (1), p.46-51
• Main Authors: NAFIU, Olubukola O, NDAO-BRUMLAY, Khady S, BAMGBADE, Olumuyiwa A, MORRIS, Michelle, KASA-VUBU, Josephine Z
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Body Mass Index; Child; Epidemiology; Female; General aspects; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Obesity - epidemiology; Obesity - surgery; Overweight; Prevalence; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Retrospective Studies; United States - epidemiology
• ISSN: 0027-9684; 1943-4693

To describe the prevalence of overweight and obesity in a pediatric surgical population from a large teaching hospital in the United States. We carried out a retrospective review of the perioperative database for the period January 2000 to December 2004 at the University of Michigan. Using directly measured height and weight, we computed body mass index (BMI) on 6,017 children. Overweight and obesity were defined using age- and gender-specific cut-off according to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2000) growth charts. We also examined the type of surgical procedures most commonly performed on overweight and obese children, and the distribution of overweight and obese patients by preoperative American Society of Anesthesiologist (ASA) classification. We found a somewhat "heavy" pediatric population with a mean BMI of 21.6kg/m(2). The mean BMI in males was 21.7 kg/m(2) and 21.6 kg/m(2) in females. BMI showed a positive correlation with age overall (r=0.48, p < 0.01), and in both males and females. The overall prevalence of overweight and obesity using age-specific criteria was 14.4% and 17.2%, respectively. Approximately 10% of the children met adult criterion for obesity (BMI > or =30 kg/m(2)). Orthopedic and otolaryngological procedures were the most common surgeries in this cohort of overweight and obese children. We further found that 35.3% of obese and 20.6% of morbidly obese children were classified as ASA I. The prevalence of overweight and obesity is high in this pediatric surgical population. Follow-up studies examining the impact of overweight and obesity on perioperative outcome are needed.