title: Childhood obesity in ambulatory children and adolescents with spastic cerebral palsy in Korea.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Childhood obesity is an emerging health issue in Korea. We investigated the prevalence of obesity and its trend over time in ambulatory Korean children with CP.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 1,397 children with CP between 1995 and 2008. The data were grouped into 4 time periods (1995-1997, 1998-2002, 2003-2004 and 2005-2008). The prevalence of obesity over each period and its relationship to gender, birth weight, age, and gross motor function classification system were investigated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The percentage of obese children was 5.8%, overweight children 11.2%, and underweight children 10.4%. The prevalence of obesity significantly increased from the first time period to the third time period. The prevalence of obesity found in our study was significantly lower than the report from the U.S.A. during same time period between 1994 and 2004 (p<0.05). The prevalence of obesity significantly decreased with age as well.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of obesity in our subjects significantly increased and has reached a plateau in recent years. Compared to the prevalence of childhood obesity in ambulatory individuals with CP in the U.S.A. study, the prevalence in our study was significantly lower.
authors: Department and Research Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors: E S
authors: ES
authors: Park
authors: W H
authors: WH
authors: Chang
authors: J H
authors: JH
authors: Park
authors: J K
authors: JK
authors: Yoo
authors: S M
authors: SM
authors: Kim
authors: D-w
authors: DW
authors: Rha