Prevalence of Obesity Among Children With Chronic Conditions

Abstract

New evidence suggests that children with chronic conditions may be predisposed to overweight and obesity. This study provides prevalence estimate of obesity for children and adolescents with select chronic conditions. We analyzed reported height and weight and the corresponding BMI from 46,707 subjects aged 10–17 years collected by the National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH‐2003). Our main outcome measure was the prevalence of obesity (defined as ≥95th percentile of the sex‐specific BMI for age growth charts), adjusted for underlying demographic and socioeconomic factors. We found that the prevalence of obesity among children 10–17 years of age without a chronic condition was 12.2% (95% confidence interval (CI) 11.5–13.0); the prevalence of obesity for children with asthma was 19.7% (19.5–19.9); with a hearing/vision condition was 18.4% (18.2–18.5); with learning disability was 19.3% (19.2–19.4); with autism was 23.4% (23.2–23.6); and with attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder was 18.9% (18.7–19.0). Our findings suggest that children 10–17 years of age with select chronic conditions were at increased risk for obesity compared to their counterparts without a chronic condition.

Quality of Life and Health Outcomes in Overweight and Non-Overweight Children With Asthma

“…Following this trend in obesity, studies have found an increased prevalence of asthma in children who are obese, which suggests the possibility that asthma and obesity may be causally related in some way (Castro-Rodriguez, Holberg, Morgan, Wright, & Martinez, 2001;Chen, Kim, Houtrow, & Newacheck, 2009). Furthermore, there is evidence to suggest that there is a negative relationship between obesity and asthma (Belamarich et al, 2000;Musaad et al, 2009).…”

Psychiatric comorbidity of childhood obesity

“…For example, in a study of children with a wide array of chronic conditions using data from the National Survey of Children ' s Health (Chen et al, 2010), youths aged 10 to17 with certain conditions were at increased risk for obesity compared to children without chronic illnesses. Specifi cally, the prevalence of obesity was 19.7% among children with asthma, 18.4% among children with a hearing/vision condition, 19.3% among those with a learning disability, 23.4% for youths with autism, and 18.9% among children with ADHD, as compared to 12.2% among those without a condition.…”

Co-occurring weight problems among children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: the role of executive functioning

“…7,8 The core symptoms of ADHD, which include inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity, are associated with significant impairment across children's academic, social and familial functioning. 9 In terms of health-related outcomes, elevated rates of obesity have been observed in adults, 10 adolescents 11 and young children with ADHD in both epidemiological and clinical samples 6,12,13 that persist after controlling for gender, diet and activity patterns, socioeconomic status (SES) and psychiatric comorbidities. Similar associations with obesity have been found when inattention and impulsivity are measured dimensionally using neuropsychological tests.…”