Introduction
Over the past years, obesity has become a global pandemic affecting both the adults, young and children. In the US, cases of children with obesity have been increasing (Skinner et al., 2018). Obesity is a condition of excess or abnormal fat that has accumulated in the adipose tissues, leading to health issues. According to several literatures, obesity and overweight are the leading cause of cardiovascular diseases, type II diabetes, cancers, and other health-related problems. Nurse practitioners may be the most preferred to provide education, preventive care, and treatment of chronic illnesses like obesity in children (Buckley & Bennett-Murray, 2018). As a nurse practitioner, this paper seeks to evaluate the prevalence of obesity in children and the role of a nurse practitioner in preventing obesity in children.
Literature Review
Many studies have been conducted to understand how obesity affects children and how it has emerged to become a pandemic globally. To address this pandemic, it is necessary to understand obesity in terms of its pathogenesis. For more literature supporting the evidence, the following strategies were used to search this nursing research topic in South’s online library. First was formulating questions about obesity in children, then identifying keywords, and finally, the search began. Evaluating obesity in children can be complex because their body composition changes, and their height increases over time (Grossman et al., 2017). However, BMI percentiles and weight-for-height measures have been used to measure obesity. BMI is the most valid and accepted worldwide to measure adiposity in children.
Previously, the BMI percentile for severe obesity was rate 99. However, recent analyses show that BMI z scores do not reflect the amount of adiposity for severe obesity in children (Buckley & Bennett-Murray, 2018). Approximately 30% of children in the united states have obesity or are overweight, with a BMI 94th percentile and more (Skinner et al., 2018). The rate of children with severe obesity has been increasing over the past years, but the proportion of children with mild obesity has stabilized (Grossman et al., 2017).
Obesity in children may lead to comorbidities such as obstructive sleep apnea, psychological and mental issues, cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure, asthma, and orthopedic problems. Schoolchildren are likely to experience bullying and teasing from their peers regarding weight (Buckley & Bennett-Murray, 2018). Childhood obesity may continue to adulthood, leading to adverse outcomes like cardiovascular issues or type II diabetes. If long term measures are not undertaken in the United States to curb obesity in children, then the rising health problems like cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and hypertension may overwhelm them and other affected countries (Grossman et al., 2017). It may be difficult for the environmental or physical factors that may influence a child’s weight.
Conclusion
Obesity in children has become one of the essential health issues globally. The risk factors associated with childhood obesity should be evaluated, and long term measures should be put to curb obesity in children. Nurse practitioners should be aware of a certain environment and physical factors that could influence the increase in a child’s weight. Research shows that preventing obesity should begin in the prenatal period, and nurse practitioners should encourage mothers to breastfeed their babies as it is believed to prevent childhood obesity (Grossman et al., 2017). Nurse practitioners also have to advance the extent of knowledge, complexity, and competencies in the area to help in fighting this health problem.
