Physicians and other medical professionals should screen children age 6 and older for obesity and refer obese kids to comprehensive weight-management programs, an expert panel says in today’s Pediatrics online.

The statement comes from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which makes medical-care recommendations based on the latest research.

After reviewing more than a dozen studies, the panel concluded that obese children who participated in moderate to high-intensity weight-management programs (frequently with their parents) for 25 or more hours over a six-month period often had improvements in their weight. Many programs included help from dietitians, psychologists, exercise trainers and physicians.

Currently there aren’t enough weight-managment programs for parents to take their children, and it’s not a covered benefit by most insurance, family physician Ned Calonge, chairman of task force and chief medical officer of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. “But now that there is evidence of effectiveness and this new recommendation — that may change.”

Almost 32% of children and adolescents are obese or overweight, according to the latest government statistics . Almost 20% of kids ages 6 to 11 and 18% of those ages 12 to 19 are obese. Obese kids are at a greater risk of weight-related health problems such as high cholesterol, blood pressure and diabetes, plus they have an increased chance of becoming obese adults.

Kids are considered overweight if they fall between the 85th and 94th percentile on body-mass index growth charts, which are weight-adjusted for height. They are obese if they are in the 95th percentile or above.

Professionals who work with overweight children say that the recommendation is long overdue and that more options are needed for such children and their families.

“There are millions of obese kids but probably only several hundred centers nationwide offering quality programs that meet the standards outlined in these recommendations,” says Melinda Sothern, director of pediatric obesity research at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. “Most of these are affiliated with universities or big hospitals. The programs are expensive if delivered by professionals, but they are less expensive than bariatric surgery later during adolescence.”

Parents seeking treatment for their obese child or teen need to carefully review program to make sure the professionals are trained to work with children, she says. “What works for adults doesn’t necessarily work for kids. They have developmental nutritional needs, and exercise has to be fun for them. It can’t be a boot-camp mentality.”

Keith Ayoob, associate professor of pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, says parents have to be involved with their children in any weight-management program. “Part of the problem is that where there are obese children, there are often obese parents.”

To make changes that really last, “parents often have to take a hard look at their own eating styles and how they may have morphed into less-than-healthy role models.”

If the entire family makes improvements, the payoff is huge, Ayoob says. “A whole family can get healthier when one child does.”

Pediatrician Sandra Hassink, who has run a childhood obesity clinic for 20 years at A.I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Del., and is chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Obesity Leadership Work Group, says parents shouldn’t feel helpless. They can eliminate sugary beverages, reduce TV time and get the kids outside more.

“If a child is obese, parents need to get the child to the doctor to identify weight-related medical conditions such as sleep apnea, diabetes, liver disease, hip and knee problems and depression,” she says.

By Nanci Hellmich, USA TODAY

Similar Posts:

• Childhood Obesity And How To Combat It
• Obesity Rolling Back Gains in Heart Health
• Extreme Obesity Proven to Shorten Lives
• Obesity vs Smoking
• Ten Tips to Eating Healthy for Kids