Caring for Overweight Children and Adolescents at a Reference Clinic in Nutrology: Habits and Attendance

Abstract

Introduction The global obesity epidemic has mobilized health services to offer care at all levels, with reference outpatient clinics playing a prominent role in cases of greater complexity. Objectives The present study aimed to identify soft drinks consumption and physical activity habits among children and adolescents diagnosed with overweight and obesity during the first visit at a secondary level nutrology outpatient clinic, and to verify attendance at follow-up visits in a 2-year period from the first visit. Materials and Methods This is a retrospective, descriptive study based on data collection from medical records of overweighted or obese patients receiving first care at the Nutrology Clinic of the Municipal Health Secretariat from Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil. The study population included children and adolescents aged between 2 and 18 years old cared for from January 2, 2013 to December 30, 2017. Age, weight, height, soft drinks consumption, physical activity, and attendance in scheduled follow-up visits during a 2-year period were analyzed. Results During the study period, 316 patients were registered, including 302 (95.5%) diagnosed with obesity. Of these, 112 (35.4%) were children and 204 (64.6%) were adolescents. Only 2.0% of the children and adolescents did not consume soft drinks, while 23.5 and 26.2% of the children and adolescents, respectively, consumed them daily. Physical inactivity was reported by 31.8% of the children and by 35.8% of the adolescents. Among those who practiced some type of physical activity, 81.3% of the children and 78.2% of the adolescents did not meet the recommendation of moderate to vigorous activity for 60 minutes per day. Dropout rates within the 1st year were of 41.9% for children and of 34.3% for adolescents, increasing to 76.9% and 73.8%, respectively, within the 2nd year. Conclusion There was a high consumption of soft drinks and low adherence to physical activity among patients who started outpatient follow-up. A small adherence to the follow-up program was also identified, with high dropout rates within the 2-year period following the first visit.