The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #50146

Pamella Darby, MPH, RD¹, Roy Grant¹, Alan Shapiro, MD², Karen Redlener, MS¹, and Irwin Redlener, MD¹. (1) Division of Community Pediatrics, The Children's Hospital at Montefiore, 317 East 64th Street, New York, NY 10021, 212-535-9779, pdarby@montefiore.org, (2) South Bronx Health Center for Children and Families, The Children's Hospital at Montefiore, 871 Prospect Avenue, Bronx, NY 10459

Childhood and adolescent overweight and obesity have tripled since 1980. More than 60% of adults are overweight or obese. The recent Surgeon General's report makes it clear that this is a public health problem. An estimated 300,000 deaths annually are attributable to overweight and its health consequences, a figure approaching the number of tobacco-related deaths. Particularly concerning are racial-ethnic disparities, with minority children at highest risk for related chronic health conditions including type 2 diabetes. In order to develop a new model of care for medically underserved pediatric populations and increase awareness of type 2 diabetes in children, the Children's Health Fund in partnership with Bristol-Myers Squibb has developed "Starting Right" - a multi-disciplinary program with four components: clinical, research, public policy and public education, and professional awareness. The clinical component is focusing on development of new protocols for implementation in primary care to help identify children and youth at highest risk, in order to prevent or limit diabetes-related morbidities. For primary prevention, a comprehensive family and community nutrition and activity program is being developed in a medically underserved section of the South Bronx. Public education messages will increase awareness that obesity is a matter of health, not cosmetics. Too often protocols in use were developed for adults and applied without modification for children. A comprehensive research component will help answer questions about laboratory values to use in targeting children for referral and diagnosis. "Starting Right" also intends to inform the issue of recommended frequency of screening for high-risk pediatric patients.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify areas to target when developing a program to prevent type 2 diabetes.
• List components of primary care screening protocols.

Keywords: Diabetes, Obesity

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.