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Overweight, obesity often missed by physicians in hospitalized children

Physicians, physician trainees and interns often do not document or address overweight or obesity in hospitalized children that they see, according to recently published data.

“This study identifies a missed opportunity for both patient care and physician trainee education. Physicians who recognize overweight/obesity have the opportunity to provide healthy weight counseling inpatient consultations and outpatient referrals for evaluation and treatment of comorbid conditions. By implementing these interventions, they may improve outcomes for children with this severe and potentially life-threatening disease. Reversal of the rising prevalence of obesity requires a multifaceted approach with community partnerships and interventions directed at health care settings (including development of guidelines for inpatient treatment), schools and communities,” Marta A. King, MD, MEd, department of pediatrics, Saint Louis University, told Healio.com/Family Medicine.

Marta A. King

King and colleagues conducted a retrospective study that analyzed the chart data of 300 children, aged 2 to 18 years, hospitalized on the general medical service of a tertiary care pediatric hospital in Utah to assess how often physicians identify and address overweight or obesity in hospitalized children.

Overall, 8.3% were identified by physicians or physician trainees as being overweight or obese and it was addressed in 4% of patients.

Documentation of overweight or obesity in a patient’s history was more likely to be done by interns (8.3% out of 266 patients), and attending physicians were more likely to document it in physical examinations (8.3%), assessments (4%) and plans (4%), according to the researchers.

Among the 244 patients seen by medical students, only 0.4% of overweight and obese patients were documented in assessments or plans, according to the researchers.

King and colleagues noted that their findings identify specific areas of documentation that could be improved.

“Future studies should focus on developing practice guidelines for identifying and addressing overweight/obesity in hospitalized children, assessing patient and family preferences, exploring physicians and physician trainee knowledge and attitudes about pediatric overweight/obesity, and identifying barriers to identification and management of overweight/obesity in hospitalized children,” King said. – by Casey Hower

Disclosures: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.