non-communicable chronic diseases,

non-communicable chronic diseases,

Running head: PICOT STATEMENT 1

PICOT STATEMENT 3

PICOT Statement: Childhood Obesity

Introduction

Childhood obesity is one of the emerging health problems that affect the American population. This disorder places children at a higher risk of suffering from preventable non-communicable chronic diseases, such as Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and asthma (McGrath, 2017). Other challenges that affect children as a result of this disease include depression and sleep apnea. Obese children are often predisposed to become obese adults who suffer from many chronic diseases related to increased mortality rate of 40 percent. Obese children and adolescents tend to have more adverse health challenges compared to the counterparts with normal BMI. The task of addressing the chronic conditions related to childhood obesity is normally costly, with approximately $14 billion price tag and increasing (McGrath, 2017). Survey reports released by government agencies such as the National Conference of State Legislature, the total cost of obesity-associated nears $150 billion yearly, with taxpayers covering approximately sixty billion dollars. There is need to identify patterns that related to childhood obesity for professionals to seek better ways to address them. This PICOT statement evaluates childhood obesity in the United States.

PICOT Statement

Population

Childhood obesity is a major health concern in the United States and other parts of the world since the disease is increasing. In the US, obesity prevalence is highest among children aged from 6 to 11 years (Cheung et al. 2016). The disease has tripled among this age group from 4.2 percent to 15.3 percent from 1963 to 2012. In 2013, 16 percent of children in the country were categorized as obese. The prevalence was highest at ages of 12 to 19 years and lowest at ages of 2 to 5 years. In the last three decades, increased cases of obesity prevalence have been noted among children of all ages, although the differences in obesity prevalence have been recorded in terms of age, race, ethnicity, and gender (Cheung et al. 2016). In this respect, children from socioeconomically disadvantaged families and some racial and ethnic minorities experience the higher median score on obesity than the dominant white population. Higher obesity rates are often recorded among blacks and Hispanics compared to whites. For instance, a survey on girls in the Southwest revealed that the yearly cases of obesity stood at 4.5 percent among Blacks, 2 percent among Hispanics, and 0.7 percent among white girls aged from 13 to 17 years (Cheung et al. 2016). For low-income earners, American Indians rank highest at 6.3 percent, followed closely by Hispanics at 5.5 percent.