engleski

Pediatric obesity in the surgical ward setting

Pediatric overweight and obesity is one of the leading public health problems in world. Republic of Croatia is among the countries with highest prevalence of obesity in the world. More obese children are presenting for surgery, reflecting an increase in comorbidities requiring surgery or an increased prevalence in the community. The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of obesity in different age groups of our pediatric surgery patients population, ant to analyse distribution of obesity in the most common surgically treated paediatric diseases and injuries. Children admitted at the Div. of pediatric surgery between ages 3 and 18 years were retrospectively analysed over 1 year period. The proportion of obese children, demographics, and surgical procedures were determined. Of the 1206 patients treated in that period 30% were obese with the highest prevalence in a group of school age and in the injury treated group. Childhood is a critical time for physicians to act by attempting to prevent, identify, and treat obesity before these obese children become obese adults with complications.

obesitiy; children; surgery

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