Pediatric obesity-related counseling in the outpatient setting.
OBJECTIVE
To determine rates of pediatric obesity-related counseling in the outpatient setting.


METHODS
The 1993-2002 data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) and the National Hospital Ambulatory Care Survey (NHAMCS) were extracted for estimates of 1) percentage of all pediatric encounters that included obesity-related counseling and 2) percentage of all pediatric encounters that included general growth/ development counseling. Obesity-related counseling rates were compared with corresponding growth/development counseling rates and with the number of pediatric-obesity articles listed in Medline for each year.


RESULTS
The rate of obesity-related counseling steadily improved and was correlated with the number of published obesity articles (Spearman's rho .721) between 1993 and 2002. In 1995, for example, 4.3% of encounters included such counseling, compared with 19.0% in 2001 and 15.4% in 2002.


CONCLUSIONS
Obesity-related counseling has become an important part of ambulatory care, which suggests increasing awareness of this serious problem.
Rao
Goutham
G
Department of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine & Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Weight Management and Wellness Center, UPMC St Margaret Family Medicine Residency, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D037001:Directive Counseling / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D009765:Obesity / Q000628:therapy*; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data