Pediatric Obesity: A Project to Increase Community and Provider Awareness in Grant County, Oregon

As the pediatric obesity epidemic escalates, multi-faceted interventions at primary care and community levels will likely be required, and practitioners have an obligatory role in the identification, education, and treatment of this growing problem. A comprehensive approach to the prevention and management of this chronic disease will be required. Efficacious or promising clinical and community interventions should be instituted as adjuncts to other lifestyle change, including healthy diet and exercise with the aim of slowing the progression of pediatric obesity. The goals of this project were to improve the prevention, recognition, and treatment of pediatric obesity by primary care providers and residents of Grant County, Oregon through a multi-modal approach. One aspect of this project was to determine pediatric obesity rates and trends for Grant County by accurately weighing and measuring all students attending public schools. A total of 699 (n=699) students were weighed and measured, representing 83.9% of students enrolled in Grant County public schools, grades 1-12. Grant County pediatric obesity rates were calculated at 14.4%--2.5% less than the national rate. When compared to Oregon state rates, Grant County children were almost 5% more obese than other Oregon children. When comparing gender, females were less obese and males were more obese in Grant County. Despite documented disparities based on rural and socioeconomic disadvantage, the rates in Grant County remained lower than the national averages.