title: Pediatric obesity: are we under-diagnosing? Assessing pediatric obesity at an urban community health clinic.
abstract: Pediatric care providers are often discouraged by the scope and magnitude of our current childhood overweight epidemic. Numerous studies have shown the adverse consequences of pediatric obesity, ranging from short-term physical and psychosocial consequences to long-term consequences that manifest in adulthood. In this study we investigated rates of overweight and at-risk for overweight children in a community health center in urban Honolulu, Hawai'i which serves a large multi-cultural and multi-ethnic population with a large presence of Asians and Pacific Islanders. This was done by conducting a chart review of the pediatric patients in the clinic. Twenty-four children had been formally diagnosed and recorded in their charts as obese/overweight during the last 2 years, out of 4,640 pediatric patients seen (less than 0.5%). However, according to this study roughly 140 overweight children are seen monthly at this clinic, indicating a prevalence of more than 50%. Samoan and Micronesian children were found to be primarily impacted.
authors.affiliation: Kalihi Palama Health Center, Honolulu, HI 96819, USA. Liora@hawaii.edu
authors.forename: Liora
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Noy
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Walter
authors.forename: Doris Segal
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Matsunaga
authors.forename: Jay E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Maddock
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003151:Community Health Centers; D006254:Hawaii; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008485:Medical Audit; D009765:Obesity / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000592:standards; D014504:Urban Health