Abstract

Session presented on Monday, November 9, 2015 and Tuesday, November 10, 2015:

Background: The focus of this project was exploring methods for the early identification of childhood obesity. Significance: With the advent of electronic health records, and Meaningful Use requirements, there has been an additional push to obtain accurate height, weight, and BMI measurements on all patients, both child and adult. Unfortunately, BMI alone does not provide an accurate representation on the health status of the patient. An extensive literature review revealed that the waist circumference measurement has been utilized in other countries (Germany, Turkey, and Brazil) in order to answer this need.

Methods: The study design was quantitative, correlational. This project took place at a rural health clinic in a community of 2500 in Kansas. Several months prior to implementation of the project, education was provided for office staff on the process of obtaining a waist circumference measurement. A PDS/McKesson Practice Partners electronic health record (EHR) was utilized.

Results: 251 eligible patients, 201 w/ BMI values, 53 w/waist circumference values, and 29 with eligible ICD-9 codes. ANOVA testing and post hoc Tukey HSD testing was completed. BMI and/or waist circumference measurements led to the identification of an overweight/obese diagnosis 14% of the time. In addition, patient's age and/or gender did not have a significant relationship to BMI and/or waist circumference measurements.

Discussion: The novel environment of a rural health clinic in the Midwestern USA added a dynamic to the research that was beneficial in filling a knowledge gap. The addition of anthropometric measurements within the pediatric practice of this clinic location was beneficial for the purpose of early identification of overweight/obesity related health trends. This is anticipated to make a positive effect in the long term care of the pediatric patient population.

Description

43rd Biennial Convention 2015 Theme: Serve Locally, Transform Regionally, Lead Globally.

Author Details

Jeanette Marlene Weiser, RN, APRN, FNP-C

Sigma Membership

Omicron Iota at-Large

Type

Poster

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

N/A

Research Approach

N/A

Keywords:

Pediatric Obesity, Body Mass Index, Waist Circumference

Conference Name

43rd Biennial Convention

Conference Host

Sigma Theta Tau International

Conference Location

Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Conference Year

2015

Rights Holder

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All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.

All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host

Acquisition

Proxy-submission

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Waist circumference as a measurement tool for pediatric obesity

Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Session presented on Monday, November 9, 2015 and Tuesday, November 10, 2015:

Background: The focus of this project was exploring methods for the early identification of childhood obesity. Significance: With the advent of electronic health records, and Meaningful Use requirements, there has been an additional push to obtain accurate height, weight, and BMI measurements on all patients, both child and adult. Unfortunately, BMI alone does not provide an accurate representation on the health status of the patient. An extensive literature review revealed that the waist circumference measurement has been utilized in other countries (Germany, Turkey, and Brazil) in order to answer this need.

Methods: The study design was quantitative, correlational. This project took place at a rural health clinic in a community of 2500 in Kansas. Several months prior to implementation of the project, education was provided for office staff on the process of obtaining a waist circumference measurement. A PDS/McKesson Practice Partners electronic health record (EHR) was utilized.

Results: 251 eligible patients, 201 w/ BMI values, 53 w/waist circumference values, and 29 with eligible ICD-9 codes. ANOVA testing and post hoc Tukey HSD testing was completed. BMI and/or waist circumference measurements led to the identification of an overweight/obese diagnosis 14% of the time. In addition, patient's age and/or gender did not have a significant relationship to BMI and/or waist circumference measurements.

Discussion: The novel environment of a rural health clinic in the Midwestern USA added a dynamic to the research that was beneficial in filling a knowledge gap. The addition of anthropometric measurements within the pediatric practice of this clinic location was beneficial for the purpose of early identification of overweight/obesity related health trends. This is anticipated to make a positive effect in the long term care of the pediatric patient population.