Obese Children in the News

Growing number of children now extremely obese.
NBC Nightly News (3/18, story 8, 2:40, Curry) reported, "Startling new numbers tonight on childhood obesity in this country: A Kaiser Permanente study of children ages two through 19 shows a large number are now considered extremely obese and may face a shorter life span than their parents."
The Los Angeles Times (3/18, Roan) "Booster Shots" blog reported that the study of Southern California children published online Mar. 18 in the Journal of Pediatrics found that "extreme obesity is not a rare occurrence." Researchers found in their survey of some "710,000 children" that "7.3% of boys and 5.5% of girls were extremely obese," that is, "having a body mass index of more than 35."
According to HealthDay (3/18, Reinberg), "The news is even worse for black and Hispanic kids: Among black teenage girls, 11.9 percent were classified as extremely obese, as were 11.2 percent of Hispanic teenage boys." In comparison, "the least extremely obese were Asian-Pacific Islanders and white children, the researchers found."
Study lead author Corinna Koebnick, PhD, pointed out that the study is the first "using the new CDC definition of extreme obesity," WebMD (3/18, Doheny) reported. "Overweight is defined as the 85th or higher percentile on the growth charts, according to guidelines from the CDC." While "obese is defined as the 95th percentile or higher," the CDC defines extreme obesity "'as 120% of the 95th percentile for weight for age and sex,' Koebnick says."
Focusing on the public health implications of extreme childhood obesity, Medscape (3/18, Larson) quoted Koebnick, who said in a press release, "Without major lifestyle changes, these kids face a 10 to 20 years shorter life span and will develop health problems in their twenties that we typically see in 40-60 year olds." The Time (3/18, O'Callaghan) "Wellness" blog also covered the story.