Chronic health conditions on the rise

Chronic health conditions among this country’s children is raising. This is according to report issued by the Journal of American Medical Association. The report states that right now, 6.5 million children and adolescents have a chronic condition. The top three conditions are obesity, asthma and ADHD.

If children with chronic conditions not severe enough to be disabling are counted, chronic conditions affect about 18% of American teens and children in all, Perrin says.

Anxiety affects obesity surgery

Obese people considering gastric bypass surgery should also be screened for anxiety and/or depression. According to a a new study published on Thursday, people with anxiety and depression lost less weight then those who do not have anxiety and depression.

Many hospitals and insurers require surgery candidates to go through a psychological evaluation before obesity surgery to make sure they are mentally fit for the operation and the lifestyle change afterward. Depressed people aren’t automatically disqualified for surgery, but those who are suicidal or abusing drugs and alcohol are usually ruled out.

 

Doctors and political correctness

In these times of political correctness, how should doctors talk to obese kids? An expert panel in Chicago says that physicians should stop ’skirting’ around the issue and call kids what they are, either “obese” or “overweight”.

Dr. Reginald Washington, a committee spokesman and member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said Tuesday that some doctors have avoided the blunt terms for “fear that we’re going to stigmatize children, we’re going to take away their self-esteem, we’re going to label them.”

Suicidal behavior linked to obesity drug

During clinical trials, people who took the drug Zimulti were found to have an increase in suicidal thoughts. Follow the CNN story below.

Psychiatric problems “represent the most common and worrisome rimonabant -induced adverse events,” the reviewers said. Twenty-six percent of Zimulti patients reported a psychiatric symptom, compared with 14 percent of placebo patients, they said.

Crisis in the Americas

The World health Organization has issued a crisis report for the Americas.  The report warns of looming chronic diseases if the rates of obesity continue.  Heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes are some of the impending diseases that will grow.

The number of people with diabetes in the Americas is expected to nearly double from 35 million in 2000 to 64 million by 2025. Less than 20 years from now, 1 in 10 people in the Western Hemisphere will have the disease.

Obesity

I was surfing the World Health Organization web site this morning. I came across a nice database that allows you to retrieve health indicators of countries from around the world. I was surprised when I read the following:

• 7% of children in the United States under the age of 5 are overweight.
• 24% of US males smoke, while 19% of females smoke in the United States.
• 33% of female adults in the United States are obese, while 31% of males in the United States are obese.

At some point in the future the obesity of this country will catch up with us.

Dad’s & Childhood Obesity

This is an interesting little study out of Australia. Childhood obesity is linked to fathers that are lenient or disengaged. Maybe this is why America is becoming so large. Fathers are not engaged in their child’s care. Mothers parenting style had no effect on the child’s weight.

“Researchers found fathers who were lenient or disengaged were more likely to have heavy children than dads set clear limits for their children. Researchers report mothers’ parenting styles had no effect on a child’s BMI.”