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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Kevin Alvarnaz, MBA and Jennifer Kenny, BS. Bureau of Chronic Diseases and Injury Prevention, Pennsylvania Department of Health, 1011 Health & Welfare Bldg., Commonwealth Avenue and Forster Street, Harrisburg, PA 17120, 717-346-3974, jekenny@state.pa.us

Effective public health program planning necessitates current data demonstrating the magnitude and scope of an issue. The Pennsylvania Department of Health (Department), recognizing the increase in childhood obesity as a serious public health concern, desired to monitor changes in body mass index (BMI) values of school students and to implement interventions that reduce childhood obesity and related chronic diseases. In 2002, the Department conducted the Pennsylvania Assessment of Overweight Children and Youth, which determined that 35% of the sample population was at-risk for overweight or overweight. Concerned by this rate of childhood obesity in Pennsylvania, the Department revised its growth screening program guidelines to include BMI value calculation and graphing, and subsequent parental notification. In 2003, the Department pilot tested the revised guidelines in ten schools with 4,390 students participating. Results from the pilot study were similar to the 2002 assessment, with 38% of students identified as at-risk for overweight or overweight. More than 10% of Pennsylvania school districts voluntarily implemented the revised guidelines during the 2004-2005 school year; implementation results have been analyzed and will be presented. Mandatory program implementation occurred for grades K-4 during the 2005-2006 school year, and grades K-8 and grades K-12 will be added during the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 school years, respectively. Data compiled from this initiative is essential to the development of school-based interventions that improve the nutrition and physical activity behaviors of students, and educational resources for healthcare providers, parents, and school nurses to care for and treat students identified as overweight.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the statewide implementation of a program to monitor BMI values of children. Articulate potential resources to educate healthcare providers, parents, and school nurses about the relevance of BMI values to childhood obesity.

Keywords: Children and Adolescents, Obesity

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered