Clinical profile of the overweight child in the new millennium.
BACKGROUND
In conjunction with the rising prevalence of obesity during the past several decades, the clinical profile of the obese child has changed. Hypothesis. Environmental influences and eating practices have had an impact on the presence of medical morbidities among obese children.


METHODS
Retrospective chart review of data collected from 90 children entering into a pediatric weight management program was performed. Fisher's exact tests and Wilcoxon rank sum tests were used to compare outcomes between subpopulations.


RESULTS
There was greater elevation in systolic blood pressure among children who ate in front of the television (P = .03) and a greater degree of fast-food consumption among children with more than 3 medical morbidities (P = .02). Breast-feeding did not have a protective effect on the degree of obesity (P = .02).


CONCLUSIONS
Aggressive assessment for symptoms should be an important part of evaluating the overweight child. Environmental influences and social feeding practices can counteract the protective effects of breast-feeding in infancy.
Carvalho
Ryan
R
Department of Pediatrics, Wright State University School of Medicine, Dayton, Ohio, USA.
Johnson
Elizabeth
E
Kozlosky
Merel
M
Scheimann
Ann O
AO
D001794:Blood Pressure; D002648:Child; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D009017:Morbidity; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013690:Television; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology