discussion post

Submit a summary of six of your articles on the discussion board. Discuss one strength and one weakness to each of these six articles on why the article may or may not provide sufficient evidence for your practice change.

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This study thoroughly reviewed community-based childhood obesity prevention programs in the United States and high-income countries. The strength this article offers is the fact that it compares independent cases and comes up with the right solutions. The only weakness is that the study only took place in high-income countries, abandoning the third world countries which are also affected by childhood obesity. However, this article will provide enough evidence for my practice change

Cunningham, S. A., Kramer, M. R., & Narayan, K. V. (2014). Incidence of childhood obesity in the United States. New England Journal of Medicine, 370(5), 403-411.

The main objective of this study was to assess the demographic associations and their predictive value of effective weight maintenance. It took place in Atlanta and the advantage it has is how it associated demographics and obesity among children aged 2-20 years. The weakness of this study is that it did not consider that sensitive patterns that characterize different subpopulations especially on the subject obesity. The study will provide sufficient information regarding weight maintenance of children and adolescents which will be helpful in my practice change.

Ebbeling, C. B., Pawlak, D. B., & Ludwig, D. S. (2002). Childhood obesity: public-health crisis, common sense cure. The lancet, 360(9331), 473-482.

The article examines changes in obesity among youths in the United States of America by looking at their socioeconomic background and how it affects obesity. The article is important since it underlines how socioeconomic differences among the different people determines obesity levels by influences the amounts of calorie intake and physical activities one engages in. the article does not however state how low socioeconomic stimulates appetite for food and discourages physical activity. Despite this, I am certain it will be helpful in my practice change.

Han, J. C., Lawlor, D. A., & Kimm, S. Y. (2010). Childhood obesity. The Lancet, 375(9727), 1737-1748.

This article summarizes how childhood obesity has been on the rise in the last three decades and the associated disorders such as diabetes. The article strives to control both genetic and physiological appetites that lead to this obesity syndrome but, it does not provide enough information to help assess the prevention or reverse child obesity. While this information will be important while formulating recommendation for my practice change, I am still confident it will provide the necessary information I need.

Karnik, S., & Kanekar, A. (2012). Childhood obesity: a global public health crisis. International journal of preventive medicine, 3(1), 1.

This article basically insists on the importance of school based interventions regarding childhood obesity. The primary objective and importance of this article is the way it emphasizes the importance of physical activity and healthy diet among school going children. Financial implications and continued stigmatization of obese children continues to form a hindrance to overall practice change. However, it did not include a large population to warrant a global conclusion. I am therefore not sure about using it for my practice

Ludwig, D. S. (2018). Epidemic Childhood Obesity: Not Yet the End of the Beginning. Pediatrics, e20174078.

This article looks of over three decades (35 years) of bad news on child obesity and how recent statistics offer positive information on American children especially those aged between 2 and 5 years. The article is generally informative on the trends in childhood obesity epidemic and how preventive measures accompanied with overall public awareness have led to this change. It is however limited to children between the ages of 2 to 5 years. This makes it limited in terms of the evidence that can be obtained from it regarding adolescents which is important for my practice change.

References

Bleich, S. N., Segal, J., Wu, Y., Wilson, R., & Wang, Y. (2013). Systematic review of community-based childhood obesity prevention studies. Pediatrics, 132(1), e201-e210.
Cunningham, S. A., Kramer, M. R., & Narayan, K. V. (2014). Incidence of childhood obesity in the United States. New England Journal of Medicine, 370(5), 403-411.
Ebbeling, C. B., Pawlak, D. B., & Ludwig, D. S. (2002). Childhood obesity: public-health crisis, common sense cure. The lancet, 360(9331), 473-482.
Han, J. C., Lawlor, D. A., & Kimm, S. Y. (2010). Childhood obesity. The Lancet, 375(9727), 1737-1748.
Karnik, S., & Kanekar, A. (2012). Childhood obesity: a global public health crisis. International journal of preventive medicine, 3(1), 1.
Ludwig, D. S. (2018). Epidemic Childhood Obesity: Not Yet the End of the Beginning. Pediatrics, e20174078.

Running head: CHILDHOOD OBESITY 1

CHILDHOOD OBESITY 6

Capstone Project Topic Selection and Approval: Childhood Obesity

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School

Date

Capstone Project Topic Selection and Approval: Childhood Obesity

Obesity is one of the major public health issues that affect many societies today. Reducing the prevalence of obesity is one of the objectives of America’s Healthy people 2020 initiative as this has been determined to be a significant cause of many health issues in the society. While obesity affects all demographics, there has been a significant increase in the prevalence of this public health issue among children. Many children are emerging with Body Mass Index (BMI) that are above the 95th percentile, which is an indication of a higher risk of many lifestyle-related illnesses (Hoelscher et al., 2015). Children are part of the vulnerable members of the population; hence, a lot of strategies need to be put in place to ensure that they are protected from public health issues by their guardians and other people responsible in their lives. This project aims at evaluating the problem of childhood obesity in America, its extent, impact, and possible solution.

Childhood Obesity in America

The rate of childhood obesity has increased significantly during the past few decades. America has one of the highest rates of childhood obesity in the world, a figure that has tripled over the past three decades (Karnik & Kanekar, 2012). One out of every six children in the United States is obese while one out of every three is overweight. The rate of overall obesity in children has been steady since 2008, but there have been significant changes within different demographic groups. Some groups have a higher rate compared to others. Among socio-economic groups, the high income earning groups including families living 400% above the poverty level have the lowest rate of childhood obesity with 11.9% (Ogden et al., 2012). The groups living under the poverty rate has the highest rate of 21%. In terms of racial/ethnic characteristics, the Asian, non-Hispanic population has the lowest rate of obesity with a 9.8% rate (Ogden et al., 2012). Hispanics have the highest rate at 23.6% followed by the blacks at 20.7% and whites at 14.7% (Ogden et al., 2012). Although at different rates, all population groups in the U.S. have a significantly high risk of childhood obesity, which makes this a major public health issue in the country.

Impact of Childhood Obesity

The most significant impact of childhood obesity is the numerous health risks that it exposes children to. Obese children have a higher risk of being affected by the following health issues. The risk of Type 2 Diabetes is increased significantly when a child is overweight (Sahoo et al., 2015). They are exposed to cardiovascular problems such as heart disease and stroke (Ayer et al. 2015). They may develop issues with their respiratory systems such as sleep apnea and asthma. Obesity is also associated with musculoskeletal discomfort and joint issues.

Aside from the health issues, obesity is also associated with psychological, social, and emotional issues in children. Children may develop low self-esteem as a result of their bigger body type, which is generally perceived as less desirable in the society today (Sabin & Kiess, 2015). They may also experience bullying and issues in the social environment. These issues lead to problems such as depression and anxiety at a young age, problems which are sometimes maintained until adulthood (Pulgaron, 2013).

The significance of the Problem

Childhood obesity has been established to be a serious problem for children. Studying this topic has positive implications because it helps to determine the extent of the issue in America, establish the patterns of the problem between groups, and the causes of the patterns. Therefore, this topic is important because it helps to develop strategies for dealing with this issues and helping to improve the health of many children in America. This can be helpful for both public health professionals and parents in dealing with the major issue of obesity that continues to affect a large percentage of children.

Proposed Solution for Childhood Obesity

The proposed solution for reducing childhood obesity is exercising more government control over the fast foods and snacks industry. One of the main cause of childhood obesity is the quality of food that children have access to (Roberto et al., 2015). Fast foods and most of the snacks on the market today supply children with the excess sugars and fats, which cause their weight issues. Control over this market will reduce access to these products for the children. The best control for this market is an increase in taxes for companies in the industry so that their products can be more expensive, and hence, less accessible to people in the market. When fewer people can access unhealthy foods then there will be a reduction in the rate of obesity.

References

Ayer, J., Charakida, M., Deanfield, J. E., & Celermajer, D. S. (2015). Lifetime risk: childhood obesity and cardiovascular risk. European heart journal, 36(22), 1371-1376.

Hoelscher, D. M., Butte, N. F., Barlow, S., Vandewater, E. A., Sharma, S. V., Huang, T., … & Oluyomi, A. O. (2015). Incorporating primary and secondary prevention approaches to address childhood obesity prevention and treatment in a low-income, ethnically diverse population: study design and demographic data from the Texas Childhood Obesity Research Demonstration (TX CORD) study. Childhood obesity, 11(1), 71-91.

Karnik, S., & Kanekar, A. (2012). Childhood obesity: a global public health crisis. Int J Prev Med, 3(1), 1-7.

Ogden, C. L., Carroll, M. D., Kit, B. K., & Flegal, K. M. (2012). Prevalence of obesity and trends in body mass index among US children and adolescents, 1999-2010. Jama, 307(5), 483-490.

Pulgaron, E. R. (2013). Childhood obesity: a review of increased risk for physical and psychological comorbidities. Clinical Therapeutics, 35(1), A18-A32.

Roberto, C. A., Swinburn, B., Hawkes, C., Huang, T. T., Costa, S. A., Ashe, M., … & Brownell, K. D. (2015). Patchy progress on obesity prevention: emerging examples, entrenched barriers, and new thinking. The Lancet, 385(9985), 2400-2409.

Sabin, M. A., & Kiess, W. (2015). Childhood obesity: current and novel approaches. Best Practice & Research Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 29(3), 327-338.

Sahoo, K., Sahoo, B., Choudhury, A. K., Sofi, N. Y., Kumar, R., & Bhadoria, A. S. (2015). Childhood obesity: causes and consequences. Journal of family medicine and primary care, 4(2), 187.