Abstract
Overweight in children has been described by the Surgeon General as one of the most urgent public health concerns of this new millennium. Many initiatives have been proposed to address this pressing problem however clinicians often feel frustrated in their efforts to address this issue. Identification of at risk children by use of BMI percentiles is a relatively new clinical parameter and is not widely used although it is recommended by health care leaders including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Pediatric Endocrinology.
The PediBridge (Pediatric BMI recognition and intervention During General Encounters) project at FHCHC was initiated in order to identify all children at or above the 85th percentile for BMI according to CDC standards and to register them in an electronic database (PECS: patient electronic care system). Since this project was initiated 14 months ago more than 300 children have been enrolled by four participating clinicians. This database is based on the national collaborative projects for diabetes and cardiovascular disease and is one of the first of its kind in the US.
After enrollment, individual follow-up appointments are scheduled at three month intervals to provide support and education for families to assist them in initiating healthy lifestyle changes. This project seeks to support the PediBridge project by offering on site group interventions for identified at risk youth. It will involve parents in the development of the interventions and in the project itself. In addition, it seeks to support the efforts of clinicians in the collection and analysis of data about overweight children in an inner city community health center. Further, it will provide follow up educational materials and programming emphasizing culturally sensitive healthy lifestyle activities and coping skills for youth.
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