Mismatch between the prevalence of overweight and obese children and adolescents and recording in electronic health records: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background The prevalence of obesity has increased dramatically in recent years. An electronic health record (EHR) can be used to identify and manage overweight and obesity by providing timely information. Objective To estimate the prevalence of overweight and obesity using anthropometric data from an EHR and to compare it with the frequency of diagnoses of 'overweight' and 'obesity' registered by pediatricians. Methods Cross-sectional, descriptive analytical study from a sample of records from children aged between 2 and 19 years who had at least one well-child visit registered in the EHR over the 24-month period between 2007 and 2008. The record of a diagnosis of overweight or obesity by physicians was compared with estimations based on body mass index (BMI; World Health Organization Growth Reference Data).

Obesity management in general practice: does current practice match guideline recommendations?

“…Documentation of BMI and waist circumference was found to be considerably lower than that observed in studies in other primary care settings, although legislative requirements in these systems and the age of the patients in some studies may account for the higher rates 5 . ‐ 8 The documentation rates we found in this study imply a continued need for programs of support to increase screening for obesity and documentation of related clinical information, in accordance with the recommendations in the NHMRC guidelines. Increasing screening for obesity in general practice has been found to be problematic for a number of reasons, including problems in identifying obesity in the patient, difficulty in approaching the discussion of obesity, a perceived lack of appropriate training, and clinical software restrictions 9 .…”

Completeness and representativeness of body mass index in children's electronic general practice records: Linked cross‐sectional study in an ethnically‐diverse urban population in the United Kingdom

“…Our findings underscore the potential for linking and making accessible to GPs and parents all child weight and height measurements made in community, hospital, school and primary care settings. Whilst evidence-based interventions to support weight management for children with obesity and overweight are currently lacking, 4 there is emerging evidence to suggest that, among adults, recording of BMI in GP-EHRs improves weight management 38,39 and is linked to increased guidance about healthier lifestyle choices. [40][41][42][43] In east London, GP-EHRs do not provide a complete or representative source of data from which to estimate the prevalence of childhood obesity and its associated health outcomes.…”

Bariatric Surgery Before Elective Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion (ACDF) in Obese Patients Is Associated With Reduced Risk of 90-Day Postoperative Complications and Readmissions

“…27 Identifying barriers to coding can ensure adequate capture of all patients to allow appropriate conduction of further large-scale studies related to obesity and its impact on the health care system. 28 We were also unable to account for more granular clinical information such as intraoperative blood loss, anesthetic complications, and/or pseudoarthrosis rates between these 2 populations. It would be of interest to see the proportion of patients who benefited or failed nonoperative interventions, such as weightloss medications and/or diet strategies, however, that information cannot be retrieved from an administrative database.…”