Most Americans know that childhood obesity is a serious issue and they are constantly being bombarded with warnings about how to better raise their children to avoid weight problems. But there is one important place where researchers believe they aren't being told about it: The hospital.
A recent study by a St. Louis University professor found that doctors don't address obesity of hospitalized children in over 90 percent of cases. While physicians identified overweight/obesity as a condition in 8.3 percent of patients, they only actually discussed it with the child or his/her parents 4 percent of the time.
"Overweight/obesity is the most common chronic pediatric disease in the United States," wrote Marta King, M.D., the study's author and a practicing physician. "Physicians who recognize overweight/obesity can provide healthy weight counseling, inpatient consultations and outpatient referrals and thereby have the opportunity to improve outcomes for children with this severe and potentially life-threatening disease."
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The children included in the study had been hospitalized for a number of different reasons. Commons diagnoses were asthma, pneumonia and cellulitis.
The World Obesity Federation is highlighting the study as evidence that physicians need additional training in spotting and discussing obesity with patients. The group is urging doctors to receive its own Specialist Certification of Obesity Professional Education (SCOPE), which consists of 30 30-minute modules on weight management, including one focusing specifically on children and teenagers.
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