Abstract
Background: Primary-care providers, clinic staff, and nurses play an important role in reducing child obesity; yet time restraints and clinical demands compete with effective pediatric weight management and prevention. Methods: To investigate the potential impact of an electronic health record (EHR) enabled tool to assist primary care teams in addressing child obesity, we conducted a controlled effectiveness study of FitTastic compared with usual care on the BMI pattern of 291 children (2 to 17 years) up to 4 years later. Results: Per x 2 analysis, a greater proportion of children with baseline overweight/obesity in the EHR tool group than the control group had a favorable BMI pattern (32% vs 13%, P = .03). In logistic regression, FitTastic children were more likely than control children to have a favorable BMI pattern at follow-up (OR 3.8, 95% CI 1.1 to 13.2), adjusted for age, gender, race, and parental education. Conclusion: Study findings suggest that EHR-enabled tools to assist primary care teams in managing child obesity may be useful for helping to address the weight in children with overweight/obesity, especially in younger children (2 to 5 years). Digital and EHR-enabled technologies may prove useful for partnering health care teams and families in the important tasks of setting positive, family-centered healthy lifestyle behavioral goals and managing child overweight and obesity.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 742-750 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine |
Volume | 35 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 2022 |
Keywords
- Body Mass Index
- Control Groups
- Counseling
- Electronic Health Records
- Exercise
- Healthy Lifestyle
- Logistic Models
- Patient Care Team
- Pediatric Obesity
- Primary Health Care
- Technology
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
- Family Practice