US paediatricians call for checks for childhood obesity

The American Academy of Pediatrics has called on its members to make obesity screening and counselling a routine part of children's check ups, like testing reflexes or administering immunisations.

Figure 1.

Boy at fat people's festival, USA

Credit: SIPA/REX

The report offers paediatricians procedures to identify patients and intervene before their weight problems start, rather than waiting until children are too heavy. After children have gained too much weight, the report says, it can be hard for them to lose it.

“Abundant opportunities exist for pediatricians to take a leadership role in this critical area of child health, including action in the following areas: opportunities for physical activity, the food supply, research, and third-party reimbursement,” the report reads. “Change is desperately needed in opportunities for physical activity in child care centres, schools, after-school programs, and other community settings. As leaders in their communities, pediatricians can be effective advocates for health- and fitness-promoting programs and policies.”

Dr Nancy Krebs, a paediatrician at the University of Colorado and a lead author of the report, said, “In the last five years, with both adults and paediatrics, there's certainly been a trend toward saying, 'Treatment success is so bleak, we've got to stop it because we can't treat it once it [obesity] occurs.'”

The authors of the report acknowledge that effective strategies for controlling weight in children are extremely limited. But they add that the scale of the obesity epidemic makes it urgent for paediatricians to start acting.

“If you look at the number of kids who are overweight or at risk,” Dr Krebs said, “you are talking over 25% of our kids. If some infectious disease was affecting 25% to 30% of our children, you can be sure we'd be looking for some kind of vaccine.”