Role of emergency departments in screening for obese and overweight children Considine, Julie, Craike, Melinda J, DeVilliers, Smit, Waddell, Danielle, Stergiou, Helen E and Hauser, Simon 2010, Role of emergency departments in screening for obese and overweight children, Australasian emergency nursing journal, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 105-110, doi: 10.1016/j.aenj.2010.08.002. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads Title Role of emergency departments in screening for obese and overweight children Author(s) Considine, Julie orcid.org/0000-0003-3801-2456 Craike, Melinda J DeVilliers, Smit Waddell, Danielle Stergiou, Helen E Hauser, Simon Journal name Australasian emergency nursing journal Volume number 13 Issue number 4 Start page 105 End page 110 Total pages 6 Publisher Elsevier Ltd Place of publication Amsterdam, The Netherlands Publication date 2010-11 ISSN 1574-6267 Keyword(s) overweight obesity emergency medicine paediatrics preventative medicine health promotion Summary Introduction Childhood obesity is a major and increasing public health issue. The role of Emergency Departments (EDs) in screening for overweight and obese children has not been studied extensively. The main aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of overweight children in Emergency Department (ED) populations. A secondary objective was to compare the characteristics of overweight and obese children with healthy weight children. Methods This prospective exploratory study was conducted in the two district urban EDs in Melbourne, Australia. A total of 87 ED patients aged 2 to 15 years were included in the study. The main outcome measures were body mass index, weight and height percentiles. Results The median absolute BMI was 16.8 (IQR = 15.4 to 18.8). The total number of children found to be overweight (BMI > 85th percentile) or obese (BMI > 95th percentile) was 21.8% (n = 19). Of these, 5.7% (n = 5) of children in this study were classified as obese. Comparison of overweight/obese children and healthy weight children showed no differences in triage but a higher incidence of respiratory illness (15.8% compared to 2.9%). Conclusions This pilot study showed that 1 in 5 children who presented to EDs were either overweight or obese suggesting a possible role for EDs in the detection and referral of overweight and obese children to intervention programs. Our findings suggest that a sufficiently powered randomised controlled trial is warranted to examine the effectiveness and efficacy of EDs screening for obese and overweight children. Language eng DOI 10.1016/j.aenj.2010.08.002 Field of Research 111003 Clinical Nursing: Secondary (Acute Care) 111099 Nursing not elsewhere classified Socio Economic Objective 920210 Nursing HERDC Research category C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal Copyright notice ©2010, College of Emergency Nursing Australasia Ltd. Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30031111 Document type: Journal Article Collections: Faculty of Health School of Nursing and Midwifery Centre for Quality and Patient Safety Research Related Links Link Description Connect to published version (restricted access) Go to link with your DU access privileges     Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Versions Version Filter Type Tue, 09 Nov 2010, 12:07:53 EST Thu, 11 Nov 2010, 14:19:45 EST Thu, 11 Nov 2010, 14:21:05 EST Fri, 12 Nov 2010, 07:28:18 EST Tue, 04 Jun 2013, 13:00:30 EST Fri, 10 Oct 2014, 08:43:48 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 0 times in TR Web of Science Cited 0 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 829 Abstract Views, 1 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Tue, 09 Nov 2010, 12:07:50 EST by Jane Moschetti