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15 - Childhood obesity

from Part III - Abnormal states

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2009

Brett McDermott
By
Caroline Braet
Edited by
Tony Jaffa
Brett McDermott
Affiliation:
University of Queensland
Caroline Braet
Affiliation:
Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
Tony Jaffa
Affiliation:
Phoenix Centre, Cambridge
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Summary

Childhood obesity: conceptualization

International guidelines for defining overweight status and obesity in children and adolescents were published recently (Cole et al., 2000). Weight standards were expressed as ‘BMI-percentiles’ for children and will become the gold standard for determining the degree of obesity. Utilizing these guidelines the prevalence of obesity among children has never before reached such epidemic proportions as today (Dietz, 1998). When overweight status is defined by the NHES as the 85th percentile of BMI (Frederiks et al., 2000) approximately 26–31% of American children and about 14–22% of European children are overweight. When defined by the 95th percentile of BMI, about 9–13% of American children are obese (Flegal & Troiano, 2000).

When trying to categorize a particular child, overweight status can also be expressed in terms of percentage of the current weight to the ‘standard BMI’. The latter is comparable to the 50th percentile. A deviation of more than 20% is considered as overweight. Child obesity represents a range of forms with on the one hand moderately obese children (20–40% overweight), obese children (40–60% overweight) and severely obese children (>60% overweight).

Paediatric obesity increases the risk of adult obesity (Whitaker et al., 1997) and long-standing obesity is associated with health risks in adults (Mossberg, 1989). Furthermore, childhood obesity is associated with health complications, including elevated blood pressure, hyperinsulinaemia and glucose intolerance, and respiratory abnormalities (Dietz, 1998; Freedman et al., 1999).

Keywords

behavioural-therapy frameworkcaloric intakechildhood obesityhealth risksobesity treatmentsparenting skills
Type
Chapter
Information
Eating Disorders in Children and Adolescents , pp. 182 - 192
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

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