P0214 - Prevalence of Disease Conditions and Laboratory Findings in Obese Children: A Decade Analysis of National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005-2014

Background:
Pediatric obesity is a complex and challenging health problem in the United States with a prevalence of 18.5% among children and adolescents 2-19 years of age. Childhood obesity has been shown to have many harmful effects on health outcomes and the consequences of severe childhood obesity can be devastating. In addition, when compared to their non-obese peers, children with severe obesity are at greater risk for adult obesity. The objective of this analysis was to estimate the clinical and laboratory findings in obese children using a nationally representative data.

Methods:
Data came from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 2005- 2014decade, which is a decade multi-year analytical sample of 10,517 children aged 6-19 years, including 2,818 children with obesity. Childhood Obesity was defined using a body mass index (BMI) at or above the 95th percentile of the CDC sex-specific BMI-for-age. Using population weights, we estimated the sex and race-stratified prevalence of several medical conditions and mean values of pertinent laboratory test that may influence health outcomes. Variables identifying social status were also examined. Chi-square and T-test were used to obtain prevalence and mean. Data was analyzed using SAS version 9.4. Statistical significance was set at p-values ≤ 0.05.

Results:
Children and adolescent 6-19 years of age with obesity were more likely than children of same age without obesity to have a statistically significant coexisting medical conditions such as asthma (22.9% vs.17.7%), diabetes (1.8% vs. 0.6%), elevated systolic blood pressure among 13 years and older (24% vs. 11.1%) and pneumonia and ear infections (6.5% vs. 3.7%). Mean laboratory findings of obese children as compared to non-obese peers included fasting glucose (96.6 vs. 94.2), insulin levels (25.6 vs. 11.8), total cholesterol (163.8 vs. 158.4), high density lipoprotein (46.0 vs. 55.3), triglycerides (108.3 vs. 76.1), HBA1C (5.28 vs. 5.19), hemoglobin (13.5 vs. 13.6), hematocrit (39.8 vs. 39.9) and vitamin D level (53.5 vs. 61.2). Obese children were also more likely to visit the emergency room (2.0% vs. 1.2%), food unsecured (26.8% vs. 20.9%) and have poor general health condition (12.4% vs. 10.4%).

Conclusion:
Our study identifies clinical conditions among a nationally representative sample of children in the United States. Result from this cross-sectional study show that obese children are disproportionately affected by other co-morbid conditions and were more likely to have abnormal lab findings when compared to their non-obese peers. Outcome from this study should guide future research priorities, provide clinical guidance, and risk stratification in addressing pediatric obesity. Targeted nutrition programs, especially among children with low socio-economic status should be designed to help children gain healthy weight. Such programs will have profound effects in reducing poor health outcomes among children.