High Prevalence of Overweight Children in Michigan Primary Care Practices

Journal of Family Practice, Jan, 2000 by Breanna M. Gauthier, John M. Hickner, Mary M. Noel

TABLE Prevalence of Overweight Children and Adolescents from 3 National Surveys and 2 Michigan Surveys

                                              Boys
                                   Above the         Above the
                                     85th              95th
                                  Percentile, %     Percentile, %

Children (6 to 11 years)
NHANES I                               18                 7
NHANES II                              20                 8
NHANES III                             22                11
KFYP                                   29                14
MPCP, no. (SE)(*)                      37 (3.0)          20 (2.5)

Adolescents (12 to 17 years)
NHANES I                               15                 5
NHANES II                              16                 5
NHANES III                             22                13
KFYP                                   29                12
MPCP, no. (SE)(*)                      39 (3.0)          20 (2.5)

                                              Girls
                                    Above the         Above the
                                      85th              95th
                                  Percentile, %     Percentile, %

Children (6 to 11 years)
NHANES I                               14                 4
NHANES II                              16                 7
NHANES III                             23                11
KFYP                                   26                13
MPCP, no. (SE)(*)                      29 (2.8)          11 (2.0)

Adolescents (12 to 17 years)
NHANES I                               20                 7
NHANES II                              16                 6
NHANES III                             21                 9
KFYP                                   24                12
MPCP, no. (SE)(*)                      37 (3.1)          21 (2.6)

Note: Percentage above the 85th and 95th percentile cutoff points was derived from the National Health Examination Surveys (1963-1970). NHANES denotes National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (I, 1971-1974; II, 1976-1980; III, 1988-1994); KFYP, Kuntzelman Fitness for Youth Program (1997); MPCP, Michigan Primary Care Practices (1996); SE, standard error.

(*) Because of the very large sample sizes for NHANES and KFYP, the standard errors of those estimates are all <1%.

DISCUSSION

A larger than expected proportion of the children and adolescents in our primary care practices in Michigan are at risk for being overweight or are overweight. The prevalences of obesity in children and adolescents presenting for care in these practices are nearly 2 times greater than the national prevalences measured in NHANES II and NHANES III and somewhat greater than a contemporary sample of Michigan schoolchildren. The absolute prevalences of obesity in the children and adolescents seen in our primary care practices were 3% to 9%, higher than in the Michigan schoolchildren in all age-sex categories, except for girls aged 6 toll years.