Obesity among Children associated with host of medical Complexities

California: Researchers from California found that children with medical complexity tend to be more obese when compared to children without medical complexity. The study was published in the journal Pediatrics. 

Children with medical complexity (CMC) have underlying chronic health conditions, significant functional status limitations, and increased hospitalization risk. They are at higher risk of developing overweight/obesity and one of the preventable comorbidities for CMC is overweight and obesity. Hence researchers from California conducted a study to assess the prevalence of overweight or obesity among children with medical complexity (CMC), compared with children without medical complexity, and explore potentially modifiable mechanisms. 

The study was carried out at a single academic medical center in 2019 using a retrospective cohort of 41,905 children aged 2 to 18 years.  Overweight or obesity, defined as a body mass index of ≥85% for age and sex was considered the primary outcome of the measurement. CMC was defined as ≥1 serious chronic condition in ≥1 system. Obesogenic conditions and medications were defined as those typically associated with excess weight gain. Common confounders were adjusted with Multivariable logistic regression. 

Key Findings:

• Nearly 29.5% were CMC of the total children in the cohort. 
• CMC exhibited higher overweight or obesity prevalence than non-CMC (31.9% vs 18.4%, P ≤.001).
• The risk for overweight or obesity was higher among the CMC having metabolic conditions, gastrointestinal conditions, malignancies, and Spanish-speaking parents. 
• There were no obesogenic conditions in 91.6% of overweight or obese CMC, and only 8.5% had been seen by a registered dietitian in the previous year. 

Thus, the study said that CMC is 27% more likely to be overweight or obese when compared with children without chronic medical conditions. Researchers also added that most of the CMC obesity cases could be preventable as they are not associated with obesogenic conditions. 

Further reading: Peinado Fabregat MI, Saynina O, Sanders LM. Obesity and Overweight Among Children With Medical Complexity [published online ahead of print, 2022 Dec 27]. Pediatrics. 2022;e2022058687. doi:10.1542/peds.2022-058687