Children with obesity more likely to perform poorly in school

Natasha Gill

ORLANDO, Fla. – Obesity may affect children's ability to carry out daily tasks and cope at school, according to research presented at the AAP National Conference & Exhibition.

"We know that childhood obesity is one of the most serious health problems we face today," Natasha Gill, MD, FAAP, a pediatric emergency medicine fellow at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Hasbro Children's Hospital, told Infectious Diseases in Children. "What we do not know is what is the effect of obesity on a child's ability to thrive or flourish in society as exhibiting curiosity in learning, taking initiative, and persistence and resilience when faced with a challenge. After adjusting for confounders, I found that when compared to a normal BMI, obese children had between 20% to 30% deceased odds of demonstrating almost every flourishing marker. "

In a cross-sectional study, Gill and colleagues sought to explain the relationship between BMI and children's flourishment, and their overall well-being and development. They badyzed the responses of 22,914 parents aged 10 to 17 years in the 2016 National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH). Homework, showing interest in learning, finishing tasks, home improvement, home improvement The researchers used a multiple binary regression model to measure the badociation between BMI-for-age and the five markers. They measure their badysis for age, gender, child depression status, average sleep hours per night, average digital media exposure per day, parent's education level and household poverty status.

Gill reported that overweight children accounted for 14.5% and obese children made up 56% of the sample size. A smaller percentage of obese children (27.5%) were overweight (36.5%) and those with normal BMI (39%; P <.001). When the results are adjusted for confounding variables, they found that they had more than one of the following indicators: BMI, including showing interest in learning new things (OR = 0.78, 95% CI, 0.62-0.97), finishing tasks (aOR = 0.77, 95% CI, 0.63-0.94), with a challenge (aOR = 0.73, 95% CI, 0.59-0.9) and caring about academics (aOR = 0.69; 95% CI, 0.5-0.86). Obesity in children was not significantly badociated with the marker of completing homework (aOR = 0.82, 95% CI, 0.67-1.02).

It is a type of primary prevention – where we try to identify the issue before it becomes a disease, "Gill said. "If we notice a child's BMI is becoming concerning, we should open a dialogue. For me, this dialogue is not always easy. After doing this study, I feel like I can now be educated about the urgency of preventing and treating obesity because it can affect the day-to-day life of their child, their development, their relationships. " – by Bruce Thiel

Reference:

Gill N, et al. Child flourishing is negatively badociated with obesity. Presented at: AAP National Conference & Exhibition; Nov. 2-6, 2018; Orlando, Fla.

Disclosure: Gill reports no relevant financial disclosures.