Abstract P410: Prevalence and Short Term Follow Up Rates Across the Childhood and Adolescent Obesity Population in a Community Hospital

Abstract

Background: Obesity is a global pandemic, which is 20.7% prevalent among 6-11 yr old and 22.2% prevalent among 12-19 year old(CDC). Aim is to understand the prevalence across different age groups in a community hospital setting. Secondary aim is to assess the variance of follow up rates across childhood and adolescence as follow up is crucial for the success of any physician intervention. Methods: We considered pediatric patients between 5 to 20 years old visiting primary care clinics within a 3-month period with a diagnosis of obesity for our study. We determined the follow up rate for 3 month scheduled weight checks for obese patients relative to the age groups. Results: We identified a total of 264 patients with obesity diagnosis (>95th percentile BMI) visiting outpatient clinics within a three month period. In our sample, the prevalence of obesity in childhood years (5-11) was 58.7%(155 of 264) and prevalence of obesity in the adolescent age group(12-20) was 41.2% (109 of 264). We recorded 30.3%(108 of 155) follow up in childhood years and 33.9%(72 of 109) follow up in the adolescent age group. The calculated p value was >0.05, hence the follow up rates across different age groups are not statistically significant. Conclusions: Focused intervention on the childhood age group will decrease the prevalence rates of obesity in a community hospital setting. This study emphasizes the need to formulate a plan to increase the follow up rates in the pediatric obesity population given its high prevalence in community hospital settings. No statistical significance has been found with follow up rates across various age groups. Further research controlling the confounding factors like environmental and socioeconomic factors help us understand the factors hindering follow ups across various age groups.