Childhood Obesity and Risk Assessment
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December 15, 2020
Childhood Obesity and Risk Assessment
Obesity is considered the second leading cause of death in the USA. It is documented that one in every three US children of the age five years and below is obese. Another report indicated that of all the obese children, 10 million are African Americans, which accounts for 14% of the pediatric population (De Rosa et al., 2019; Martin et al., 2018). The comorbidities and other management programs for pediatric patients cost the nation approximately 14 billion (Totura et al., 2015). Therefore, it is necessary to put in place interventions that will reduce the detrimental effect of the condition and increase the overall health and productivity of the children in their later days. This paper aims to describe the health issues and risks associated with a case study of a five-year-old obese child with the inclusion of the criteria of identifying additional information that can be obtained for further health assessment. The paper will also list key questions to be posed in a friendly manner for information gathering as well as describe key strategies that need to be employed by the parents/caregivers to manage the child’s obese condition.
Health Issues and Risks Relevant to The Case Study.
The case study indicates that the child has parents who are also overweight, working full-time, and having the boy’s grandmother take care of him after school. This information is critical and portrays the likelihood of health risks to the child or their parents. One of the notable health issues is diabetes Mellitus. This is quite common among overweight children and adolescents. According to the CDC’s report, it is estimated that one out of every three American children born in the 21st century has a likelihood of developing diabetes in life. Heart diseases also result from being overweight, with a link to the development of atherosclerosis. This may develop in early childhood days or even in adolescence. Increased weight in children tends to predispose them to asthma, gallstones, and hypertension. Other studies indicate that overweight children tend to risk developing nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which can later develop into cirrhosis. Another notable health risk is the development of menstrual problems where the child reaches puberty at an early age, gets irregular menses, or even develops uterine fibroids.
Furthermore, obese children have the risk of developing obstructive sleep apnea and depression/anxiety due to psychological torment (Sahoo et al., 2015; Wright et al., 2016).
It is also notable to mention that an average of 40% of overweight children tends to develop metabolic syndromes. These metabolic syndromes include abnormal lipids, high blood pressure, insulin resistance, and obesity. Similarly, the development of obesity in childhood is an indicator of the likelihood of the development of obesity later on in life. This is detrimental to someone’s health and overall productivity (Wright et al., 2016).
Childhood Obesity and Risk Assessment
Additional Information Needed in Assessment of The Boy’s Weight-Related Health
The preliminary information need in assessment is the histories of both the parents/caregivers and the child. This should start with developing a friendly environment and majorly engaging the parents with open-ended questions. By also involving the child in the interview process, the nurse can assess cognition. Obtaining history helps in risk assessment and helps the nurse determine tests needed, make a diagnosis, and develop a care plan. The history helps in determining the characteristic prediction of future disease and preventive measures.
Another key piece of information needed is the child’s BMI. This will determine to provide the necessary information concerning the nutritional status and weight category of the patient BMI will also provide a value that can be used in the patient’s grouping of health status on a growth chart. Similarly, it is also significant to know the strategies that the parents have tried to manage their weight status and that of the child and the consistency at the implementation of the strategy. This helps determine the need for bariatric surgery of just dietary modification and other non-invasive techniques.
Lastly, it is important to know what the parent’s desires are concerning managing the condition. This will help determine their readiness to sticking to a routine plan and behavioural change for their children and themselves.
Potential Risk to The Child’s Health and Additional Information Needed for Insight Of The Childs Health.
The biggest risk to the child’s health is comorbidities like hypertension, diabetes, atherosclerosis, and others early on in life. This is detrimental since it may claim the child’s life or require him to start lifelong medication, which also affects his life length. As a school-going child, psychological impacts may also occur as he interacts with other children. This may result in issues like bullying and stigma, low-self-esteem, anxiety, and depression. This will affect the child’s productivity and success later on in life.
It is necessary to get information regarding the psychological well-being of the child. This can be obtained by describing how the child relates to other children at home and in school. This can also be depicted by school performance, social interaction with others, and characteristic behavior while at home and while communicating to the parents or caregivers.
Questions to Ask About the Child in Information Retrieval Process.
1. How is the performance of the child concerning academics and physical activities?
2. What types of meals does the child regularly feed?
3. Is there a concern about the calorie levels of the food the child feeds on?
4. What was the child’s birth weight, and what is the average screen time of the child while at home?
5. How frequently do you and your children get involved in physical activities?
6. Has the child developed any complications like difficulty in breathing?
7. Has the child been diagnosed with any ailments like hypertension, diabetes, or asthma?
Strategies That Can Be Used in Enhancing Proactiveness Of Parents/Caregivers About Their Childs Health and Weight.
The first strategy involves educating parents on different available techniques to manage obesity. This includes the modification of diet and physical activities that help burn fats. Similarly, at extreme levels, the health facility can incorporate bariatric surgery for those with hormonal issues. Awareness helps them in getting the assurance of relief of the condition. The parents also need to know the associated health risks that may follow if the child’s health is not monitored and the weight regulated (Navas-Carretero,2016).
Secondly, it is necessary to enrol regular check-ups for the child to monitor the interventions’ efficiency. This also instils seriousness in the parents/caregivers. It is also important to regularly give the parents/caregivers relevant nutritional resources, e.g., obesity management literature and links to websites like MyPlate.gov. The latter resource is quite helpful due to its vastness. Some of the content on the website includes nutritional suggestions, interactive games, and videos, recipes, among others (Yanovski, 2015).
Conclusion
Obesity is a devastating condition globally and continues to cause global death in both adults and children. However, with effective management of the condition, its health risks can be eliminated, thus guarantee healthy and successful living. The nurse practitioner needs to gather all relevant information before making a diagnosis of initiating an action plan. Similarly, for overweight children, the biggest role is played by parents and caregivers. Due to the difficulty of maintaining consistency in applying the action plans, the nurse practitioners need to enroll strategies that make the parents proactive in taking care of children health and instill the right nutritional behavior to the child as he/she grows up.
References
De Rosa, M. C., Chesi, A., McCormack, S., Zhou, J., Weaver, B., McDonald, M., Christensen, S., Liimatta, K., Rosenbaum, M., Hakonarson, H., Doege, C. A., Grant, S., Hirschhorn, J. N., & Thaker, V. V. (2019). Characterization of Rare Variants in MC4R in African American and Latino Children With Severe Early- Onset Obesity. The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, 104(7), 2961–2970.https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2018-02657
Martin, A., Booth, J. N., Laird, Y., Sproule, J., Reilly, J. J., & Saunders, D. H. (2018). Physical activity, diet and other behavioural interventions for improving cognition and school achievement in children and adolescents with obesity or overweight. The Cochrane database of systematic reviews, 3(3), CD009728. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD009728.pub4
Navas-Carretero S. (2016). Obesidad infantil. Causas, consecuencias y soluciones [Childhood obesity: causes, consequences and solutions]. Anales del sistema sanitario de Navarra, 39(3), 345–346. https://doi.org/10.23938/ASSN.0244
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), 187–192. https://doi.org/10.4103/2249-4863.154628
Totura, C. M., Figueroa, H. L., Wharton, C., & Marsiglia, F. F. (2015). Assessing implementation of evidence-based childhood obesity prevention strategies in schools. Preventive medicine reports, 2, 347–354. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2015.04.008
Wright, D. R., Lozano, P., Dawson-Hahn, E., Christakis, D. A., Haaland, W. L., & Basu, A. (2016). Parental Predictions and Perceptions Regarding Long-Term Childhood Obesity-Related Health Risks. Academic Pediatrics, 16(5), 475-481. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acap.2016.02.007
Yanovski J. A. (2015). Pediatric obesity. An introduction. Appetite, 93, 3–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2015.03.028
Childhood Obesity and Risk Assessment
Question
Overweight 5-year-old black boy with overweight parents who work full-time and the boy spends his time after school with his grandmother.
Include the following:
• An explanation of the health issues and risks that are relevant to the case you were assigned.
• Describe additional information you would need in order to further assess his or her weight-related health.
• Identify and describe any risks and consider what further information you would need to gain a full understanding of the child’s/adult’s health. Think about how you could gather this information in a sensitive fashion.
• Taking into account the parents’ and caregivers’ potential sensitivities, list at least three specific questions you would ask about the child to gather more information. Provide at least two strategies you could employ to encourage the parents or caregivers to be proactive about their child’s health and weight.
Childhood Obesity and Risk Assessment