OBESITY-RELATED ILLNESSES are threatening the health of US children. It is now time to build a cohesive national policy that combats obesity in children and adolescents. In this article, we suggest principles for policy development based on barriers, precedents, knowledge available, and knowledge gaps.
Evidence repeatedly demonstrates the rising prevalence of obesity and obesity-related illnesses, with 30% of US children having a body mass index higher than the 85th percentile for their age.1- 5 Although comprehensive data are needed on the long-term effects of pediatric obesity on health, it is known that more than two thirds of obese children 10 years and older will become obese adults6 and that obesity in young adults causes on average 5 to 20 years of life lost.7 Obesity is also associated with a 36% increase in inpatient and outpatient spending and a 77% increase in medication use compared with expenditures for healthy-weight individuals.8 Some people have expressed reluctance to involve government or professional bodies in personal affairs pertaining to weight control.9 However, several facts combine to make pediatric obesity a public health priority that requires a concerted societal response. These include the magnitude of the problem, the fact that children cannot be fully responsible for their own health choices, and the recognition that obesity reflects a combination of genetic, behavioral, and environmental influences—together with society's special obligation to protect and care for children.
Register and get free email Table of Contents alerts, saved searches, PowerPoint downloads, CME quizzes, and more
Subscribe for full-text access to content from 1998 forward and a host of useful features
Activate your current subscription (AMA members and current subscribers)
Purchase Online Access to this article for 24 hours
Country-Specific Mortality and Growth Failure in Infancy and Yound Children and Association With Material Stature
Use interactive graphics and maps to view and sort country-specific infant and early dhildhood mortality and growth failure data and their association with maternal
Instructions
Thank you for submitting a comment on this article. It will be reviewed by JAMA Pediatrics editors. You will be notified when your comment has been published. Comments should not exceed 500 words of text and 10 references.
Do not submit personal medical questions or information that could identify a specific patient, questions about a particular case, or general inquiries to an author. Only content that has not been published, posted, or submitted elsewhere should be submitted. By submitting this Comment, you and any coauthors transfer copyright to the journal if your Comment is posted.
* = Required Field
Disclosure of Any Conflicts of Interest* Indicate all relevant conflicts of interest of each author below, including all relevant financial interests, activities, and relationships within the past 3 years including, but not limited to, employment, affiliation, grants or funding, consultancies, honoraria or payment, speakers’ bureaus, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, royalties, donation of medical equipment, or patents planned, pending, or issued. If all authors have none, check "No potential conflicts or relevant financial interests" in the box below. Please also indicate any funding received in support of this work. The information will be posted with your response.
Some tools below are only available to our subscribers or users with an online account.
Download citation file:
Web of Science® Times Cited: 11
Customize your page view by dragging & repositioning the boxes below.
More Listings atJAMACareerCenter.com >
and access these and other features:
Register Now
Enter your username and email address. We'll send you a link to reset your password.
Enter your username and email address. We'll send instructions on how to reset your password to the email address we have on record.
Need assistance?
Athens and Shibboleth are access management services that provide single sign-on to protected resources. They replace the multiple user names and passwords necessary to access subscription-based content with a single user name and password that can be entered once per session. It operates independently of a user's location or IP address. If your institution uses Athens or Shibboleth authentication, please contact your site administrator to receive your user name and password.