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Symptoms
By Mayo Clinic staffNot all children carrying extra pounds are overweight or obese. Some children have larger than average body frames. And children normally carry different amounts of body fat at the various stages of development. So you might not know just by looking at your child if his or her weight is a health concern.
Your child's doctor can help you figure out if your child's weight could pose health problems. To do this, your child's doctor will calculate your child's body mass index (BMI). The BMI indicates if your child is overweight for his or her age and height.
Using a growth chart, your doctor determines your child's percentile, meaning how your child compares with other children of the same sex and age. So, for example, you might be told that your child is in the 80th percentile. This means that compared with other children of the same sex and age, 80 percent have a lower BMI.
Cutoff points on these growth charts, established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), help identify overweight and obese children:
- BMI-for-age between 85th and 94th percentiles — overweight
- BMI-for-age 95th percentile or above — obesity
Because BMI doesn't consider things like being muscular or having a larger than average body frame and because growth patterns vary greatly among children, your doctor also factors your child's growth and development into consideration. This helps determine whether your child's weight is a health concern.
When to see a doctor
If you're worried that your child is putting on too much weight, talk to his or her doctor or health care provider. He or she will consider your child's individual history of growth and development, your family's weight-for-height history, and where your child lands on the growth charts. This can help determine if your child's weight is in an unhealthy range.
- About BMI for children and teens. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/childrens_BMI/about_childrens_BMI.html. Accessed Feb. 2, 2010.
- Flegal KM, et al. Characterizing extreme values of body mass index-for-age by using the 2000 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention growth charts. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2009;90:1314.
- Ford ES, et al. Concentrations of low density lipoprotein cholesterol and total cholesterol among children and adolescents in the United States. Circulation. 2009;119:1108.
- The fourth report on the diagnosis, evaluation and treatment of high blood pressure in children and adolescents. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/prof/heart/hbp/hbp_ped.pdf. Accessed Feb. 2, 2010.
- Barlow SE, et al. Expert committee recommendations regarding the prevention, assessment and treatment of child and adolescent overweight and obesity: Summary report. Pediatics 2007;120:S164.
- Spear BA, et al. Recommendations for treatment of child and adolescent overweight and obesity. Pediatrics. 2007;120:S254.
- Expert committee recommendations on the assessment, prevention, and treatment of child and adolescent overweight and obesity. American Medical Association. http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/433/ped_obesity_recs.pdf. Accessed Feb. 2, 2010.
- Schilling PL, et al. National trends in adolescent bariatric surgical procedures and implications for surgical centers of excellence. Journal of the American College of Surgeons. 2008;206:1.
- Dunican KC, et al. Pharmacotherapeutic options for overweight adolescents. Annals of Pharmacotherapy. 2007;41:1445.
- Woo T. Pharmacotherapy and surgery treatment for the severely obese adolescent. Journal of Pediatric Health Care. 2009;23:206.
- Xenical (prescribing information). Nutley, NJ.: Roche Pharmaceuticals; 2008. http://www.gene.com/gene/products/information/xenical/pdf/pi.pdf. Accessed Feb. 5, 2010.
- Meridia (sibutramine): Market withdrawal due to risk of serious cardiovascular events. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/SafetyInformation/SafetyAlertsforHumanMedicalProducts/ucm228830.htm. Accessed Oct. 8, 2010.
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