APSA PaperThe impact of obesity on severely injured children and adolescents
Section snippets
Patients and methods
This was a retrospective review of all pediatric (6-11 years old) and adolescent (12-19 years old) trauma patients admitted to the surgical intensive care unit (ICU) at LAC/USC Medical Center from 1998 through 2003. All patients are weighed and measured upon admission to our ICU and values were used to calculate body mass index (BMI, reported in kg/m2) for each patient. Patients were subsequently classified as either obese (BMI ≥95th percentile for age) or non-obese (BMI <95th percentile for
Results
There were 316 pediatric and adolescent trauma patients admitted to our ICU during the 5-year study period, including 54 obese (17%, mean BMI = 33 ± 5 kg/m2) and 262 non-obese (83%, mean BMI = 23 ± 4 kg/m2) patients. Obese and non-obese patients were similar regarding age (16 ± 4 vs 15 ± 4 years, P = .14), male sex (76% vs 81%, P = .48), and blunt mechanism of injury (50% vs 44%, P = .55). Although there was no difference in admission heart rate (109 ± 28 vs 104 ± 29 beats per minute, P = .23),
Discussion
Obesity has become a nationwide epidemic and has even afflicted an alarming number of our country's youth. The prevalence of pediatric obesity has more than doubled over the past 20 years, with about 15% of children and adolescents currently exceeding the 95th percentile for BMI [1], [2], with even higher rates among minority and economically disadvantaged children. In parallel to this rise in obese children, trauma continues as the leading cause of morbidity, mortality, and functional
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Presented at the 36th Annual Meeting of the American Pediatric Surgical Association, Phoenix, AZ, May 29-June 1, 2005.