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“The Numbers Don't Lie: Influencing Policy Makers with Local Pediatric BMI Data”
Obesity impacts health during childhood and increases the risk of developing additional diseases (type 2 diabetes, stroke, asthma, sleep apnea, and hypertension) into adulthood. 17.4% of children aged 6-11 and 17.9% aged 12-19 in the United States are considered obese. Healthy People 2020 has created a goal to reduce obesity rates to 15.7% by the year 2020. A nationally recognized pediatric hospital utilized an existing medical screening program (Healthy Kids Express) to collect data on 50 schools and sites within the St. Louis Metropolitan region with the goal of using data on local obesity prevalence to inform school health and wellness policies.
Methods
Healthy Kids Express partnered with 50 schools and sites to measure the height and weight of students (n=8043) in the 2013-2014 school year. Height and weight measurements were classified by weight status (obese, overweight, normal weight, underweight) based on the percentile for each child’s age and sex. “Obese” was defined as children in the 95th or above percentile. Chi-square analysis was conducted to measure the proportion of students in each weight category and the proportions of students in each gender and grade level.
Results/Outcomes
27 schools had obesity rates that met or were below the Healthy People 2020 goal, while the obesity rates of 23 schools were higher or much higher than the Healthy People 2020 goal.
Each participating school was given obesity management recommendations.. Providing recommendations along with local data sends a persuasive message to policy makers to implement policies that impact health and wellness.
Learning Areas:
Chronic disease management and preventionEpidemiology
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Provision of health care to the public
Learning Objectives:
Analyze BMI data collected from over 8000 St. Louis children in schools and community partners organizations.
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: Melody Schaeffer is an Evaluation and Analytics Coordinator with Child Health Advocacy and Outreach at St. Louis Childrenâs Hospital. She is also earning her Master of Public Health degree from Washington University in St. Louis, graduating in May 2015. She has experience in planning, implementing and evaluating public health programs in school and community settings.
In her current role, she measures the success and impact of community health programs across a range of topics.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.