Childhood Obesity
What It Means for Physicians
- Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, MBA
- Author Affiliation: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Princeton, New Jersey.
- Corresponding Author: Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, MBA, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Route 1 and College Road East, Princeton, NJ 08043 (oped{at}rwjf.org).
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
- KEYWORDS:
- CHILD
- CHILD NUTRITION PHYSIOLOGY
- EATING
- EXERCISE
- HEALTH EDUCATION
- LIFE STYLE
- OBESITY
- PUBLIC HEALTH
An epidemic of childhood obesity and overweight, to which social, economic, and human behaviors have contributed, threatens long-term medical, psychosocial, and financial consequences beyond US society's current capacity to respond. How the epidemic is controlled will be about the art and practice of social and behavioral change as well as the art and science of medicine. Missing from much of the public discussion is what the epidemic means to medical practice and the role of physicians as agents of prevention and change.
Practicing physicians are familiar with the increasing number of obese and overweight adults living with multiple and chronic illnesses, requiring complex and expensive care, and dying prematurely. The epidemic's clinical effects are now evident in younger patients with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia.
In addressing this disturbing trend and preventing its spread, physicians are challenged to look to the broader environment. Successful treatment will require improving the …
