Childhood Obesity May Be Underreported

National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month kicks off with sobering news

INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — As the U.S. launches its
first-ever National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month today, scientists say the
problem may be even more widespread than was thought. Researchers have found
that parents tend to underreport their children’s weight. Estimates of obesity
and body mass index (BMI) based on parent-supplied data may miss one in five
obese children.

This sobering news underscores the need for National Childhood Obesity Awareness
Month. Congress established the observance in a resolution passed unanimously
earlier this year, seeking to “raise public awareness and mobilize the country
to address childhood obesity.” A wide array of organizations have joined
together as the National Council on Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, educating
parents, policy makers and others about the problem and encouraging preventive
action on childhood obesity. The new website
www.HealthierKidsBrighterFutures.org includes a toolkit with fact sheets, sample
letters to the editor, scripts for public service announcements and other
resources.

Such advocacy is needed more than ever, in light of a study conducted by Daniel
O’Connor, Ph.D., and Joseph Gugenheim, M.D. and presented in June at the 57th
Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine. Researchers compared
the measured height and weight of 1,430 children at an orthopedic clinic with
the values their parents reported. “Parents tend to overestimate boys’ height
and underestimate girls’ height,” said O’Connor, “and this error was larger when
the reporting parent was the opposite sex of the child. Almost half of the
parents underestimated their child’s weight, and errors in reporting weight
tended to be larger for girls and increase with age.” Ethnicity played a role,
with African-American and Hispanic parents making larger errors than Caucasian,
non-Hispanic parents, and weight errors were larger in children who were
overweight or obese.

According to O’Connor, “The most striking finding was that using the
parent-reported values to compute BMI and obesity status, following [Centers for
Disease Control] guidelines, resulted in about one in five obese children – 21
percent – being missed in the count and not identified as obese.”

Even without adjusting for underreporting, conventional estimates of childhood
obesity are startling. During the past four decades, obesity rates have soared
among all age groups, increasing more than fourfold among children ages six to
11. More than 23 million children and teenagers (31.8 percent) ages two to 19
are overweight or obese, a statistic which health and medical experts say
constitute an epidemic.

The scope of the problem and its impact on health care costs and individual
quality of life propelled Congress to take unanimous action. Congresswoman
Marcia L. Fudge (D-OH) co-sponsored the House legislation with Congresswoman Kay
Granger (R-TX). Rep. Fudge said, “Nothing can be more important than protecting
the health and well-being of our children for years to come. I look forward to
parents, health care providers, educators, civic leaders and organizations
joining the effort to end childhood obesity.” Rep. Granger said, “Childhood
Obesity Awareness Month supports the goals of families, schools, and communities
who are working to ensure we raise a healthier generation. If we keep our kids
healthy now it will alleviate a major burden on our health care system while
giving millions of young people the opportunity to live longer, healthier
lives.”

The National Council on Childhood Obesity Awareness Month encourages individuals
and organizations to do whatever they can to build understanding of the causes
and implications of childhood obesity and to earnestly seek solutions to stem
the epidemic. While the focus now is on September as National Childhood Obesity
Awareness Month, the effort must be sustained and widespread, according to
organizers.

Editors: See
thetoolkitathttp://www.healthierkidsbrighterfutures.org/toolkit.pdffor fact
sheet, “What You Can Do to Promote Childhood Obesity Awareness Month” and other
resources.

The American College of Sports Medicine is the largest sports medicine and
exercise science organization in the world. More than 40,000 international,
national, and regional members and certified professionals are dedicated to
advancing and integrating scientific research to provide educational and
practical applications of exercise science and sports medicine.

SOURCE American College of Sports Medicine