Paediatric Research Across the Midlands
Obesity Recognition Audit
Aims
To establish whether height, weight and BMI are recorded, and whether overweight (BMI>91th centile) children are correctly identified and managed in Children’s Assessment Units (CAU).
Methods
Medical records of all children aged >2 years attending five CAUs within the West Midlands over 72-hours were examined. A quality improvement package (QIP) was introduced and re-audit was performed in three of the centres at least 3 weeks later.
Results
One hundred and thirty one children were included in the initial study. Weight and height were recorded in 115 (87%, range 65-100%) and 45 (34%, range 0-80%) children respectively. BMI was calculated in nil. Following the QIP there was no improvement in detection of overweight children, with weight and height obtained in 45/48 (93%) and 14/48 (29%) of children respectively. No overweight children were recognised following the QIP.
Conclusions
There is a large difference between the best and worst performing centres in height and weight documentation; however, all centres were universally poor at identifying overweight children, with simple educational interventions ineffective at improving this.
Regional Project Lead: Dr Kate Harvey
Local Project Leads: Dr Helen McDermott
Dr Will Coles
Dr Su Elliott
Dr Nicola McMullan
Dr Archie Anandaram
Dr Sanaa Ismail
Project Supervisors: Dr Emma Webb
Dr Jeremy Kirk
Presentation: Presented as oral presentation at RCPCH Conference 2017
Publication:
Harvey KC, McDermott H, Coles W On behalf of Paediatric Research Across the Midlands (PRAM) Network, et al. Tackling the childhood obesity crisis: acute paediatricians are not playing their part. Archives of Disease in Childhood 2017;102:875-876.
