User:Cbshealy13/Childhood Obesity

= Childhood Obesity =

What is Obesity, and How does it affect children?
The World Health Organisation (WHO) gave the basic definition of obesity in 1999, stating  “an excess in fat mass great enough to increase the risk of morbidity, altered physical, psychological, or social well-being, and mortality”(WHO, 1999). To be classified as obese by the World Health Organization, a person must have a BMI higher than 35(WHO, 1995). 107.7 million children worldwide are considered obese as of 2015 (Weihrauch-Blüher & Wiegand, 2018). Twenty Two million children under five years old were overweight or obese worldwide as of 2012.

What Causes it and its Prevalence
Obesity prevalence in ages 6-11 has tripled in the United States in the past three decades and has doubled in preschool-aged children (Rahman et al., 2011). Illnesses of obesity affect the mortality rate similarly between kids and adults, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and a decline in insulin production (Deckelbaum & Williams, 2012). Another risk factor for children with obesity is they are more likely to be obese when they are adults. According to the CDC, An obese child has five times the chance to stay or become obese as an adult compared to a child who was never obese (CDC, 2022). The rates of obesity have only increased since 2012; according to the CDC (Center for Disease Control), “the prevalence of obesity in adolescents was 12.7% among 2- to 5-year-olds, 20.7% among 6- to 11-year-olds, and 22.2% among 12- to 19-year-olds in 2017 to 2020”.

Racial Influence
They measured using a statistical association analysis to see if there was a higher correlation between race and obesity in children or whether low economic status and obesity in children had a higher correlation. It was determined by the study “for a 1% increase in low income, there is a 1.17% increase in overweight or obese status” (Rogers et al., Childhood Obesity, 2015). This statistic means the lower the income area a child comes from, the more likely they are to be obese based on a correlation between low income and obesity status.

Policy
Policy factors can also effectively prevent childhood obesity in low-income areas, especially with help from state and national funds. An example of a policy to help stop the adverse effects of childhood obesity in the United States is a state policy requiring public schools to make students take physical education (PE) classes. Another example would be implementing state policy to make early childhood educational settings healthier by increasing physical activity, improving nutrition, and reducing screen time (Gortmaker et al., American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2015). Since children spend one-third of their day attending school, national and school policies heavily impact a child’s health(Tyler and Horner, 2008). “Parents, healthcare providers, administrators, teachers, and community leaders can work together to influence lifestyle-related school policies, such as the type and frequency of physical activities and the quality of foods available at school” (Tyler and Horner, 2008). Policy change on the national level can potentially significantly impact children's health and behavior. (Tyler and Horner, 2008). Government assistance can help the eating habits of low-income families while at home. Still, they can not afford to eat breakfast at home or bring lunch to school when low-income families rely on government assistance for proper nutrition and healthy eating habits (Tyler and Horner, 2008).

Intervention
According to the American Journal of Public Health, “interventions to improve nutrition and physical activity at the individual level are likely to fail in food and social environments because of unsafe and limited recreational space and ready access to low-cost, calorie-dense food options”(Brown et al., 2019). The main barrier to maintaining healthy habits and diets for children is the high poverty rates in specific communities (Brown et al., 2019). The primary type of intervention used for obese children in low-income areas is family-based intervention. In a study by Cason-Wilkerson and others in the Journal of Childhood Obesity, family-based interventions for parents were used to test their effectiveness in changing the behavior and health of their overweight children in low-income areas (Cason-Wilkerson et al., 2015).

Another form of intervention is self-monitoring. Self-monitoring means “writing down or keeping track of a target behavior, and for obese children, it is most likely tracking food consumption and physical exercise every time it occurs” (Faith et al., 2012). In this case, children cannot self-monitor themselves, so a parent would have to do it for them. The main goal of self-monitoring is to raise awareness, but children don’t usually have the competence to be self-aware, so the parents help them monitor (Faith et al., 2012).

Another intervention that can be done is to designate play streets for kids in low-income communities. Play Streets are when a city temporarily closes a road for a specified time. This helps create a safe,  publicly accessible space for children, adolescents, and their families to get physical exercise. (Umstattd Meyer et al.,2019).

REFERENCES:

 * 1) Block, J. P., Scribner, R. A., & DeSalvo, K. B. (2004). Fast food, race/ethnicity, and income: A geographic analysis. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 27(3), 211-217. https://10.1016/j.amepre.2004.06.007
 * 2) Brown, A. F., Ma, G. X., Miranda, J., Eng, E., Castille, D., Brockie, T., Jones, P., Airhihenbuwa, C. O., Farhat, T., Zhu, L., & Trinh-Shevrin, C. (2019). Structural interventions to reduce and eliminate health disparities. Am J Public Health, 109, S72-S78. https://10.2105/AJPH.2018.304844
 * 3) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). Childhood Obesity Facts Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion: https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/childhood.html
 * 4) Faith, M. S., Van Horn, L., Appel, L. J., Burke, L. E., Carson, J. A. S., Franch, H. A., Jakicic, J. M., Kral, T. V. E., Odoms-Young, A., Wansink, B., & Wylie-Rosett, J. (2012). Evaluating parents and adult caregivers as “Agents of change” for treating obese children: Evidence for parent behavior change strategies and research gaps. Circulation, 125(9), 1186-1207. https://10.1161/CIR.0b013e31824607ee
 * 5) Rahman, T., Cushing, R. A., & Jackson, R. J. (2011). Contributions of the built environment to childhood obesity. Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine: A Journal of Translational and Personalized Medicine, 78(1), 49-57. https://10.1002/msj.20235
 * 6) Rogers, R., Eagle, T. F., Sheetz, A., Woodward, A., Leibowitz, R., Song, M., Sylvester, R., Corriveau, N., Kline-Rogers, E., Jiang, Q., Jackson, E. A., & Eagle, K. A. (2015). The relationship between childhood obesity, low socioeconomic status, and race/ethnicity: Lessons from Massachusetts. Childhood Obesity, 11(6), 691-695. https://10.1089/chi.2015.0029
 * 7) Tyler, D. O., & Horner, S. D. (2008). Collaborating with low-income families and their overweight children to improve weight-related behaviors: An intervention process evaluation. Journal for Specialists in Pediatric Nursing, 13(4), 263-274. https://10.1111/j.1744-6155.2008.00167.x
 * 8) Umstattd Meyer, M. R., Bridges, C. N., Schmid, T. L., Hecht, A. A., & Pollack Porter, K. M. (2019). Systematic review of how play streets impact opportunities for active play, physical activity, neighborhoods, and communities. BMC Public Health, 19(1), 335. https://10.1186/s12889-019-6609-4
 * 9) WHO Consultation on Obesity (‎1999: Geneva, Switzerland)‎ & World Health Organization. (‎2000)‎. Obesity: preventing and managing the global epidemic: report of a WHO consultation. World Health Organization. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/42330