Childhood And Adolescent Obesity: Causes, Effects And Cost-Effective Interventions

Causes of Childhood and Adolescent Obesity

Discuss about the Cost Effectiveness Analysis On Childhood Obesity.

Childhood and adolescent obesity is among the most serious public health challenge in the 21^st century globally. It has been described as an emerging pandemic of the new millennium. It affects all socio-economic groups irrespective of their sex and ethnicity (Cali & Caprio 2008). Obesity is a threat to the mental and physical health of the school going children resulting to enormous health consequences such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerotic changes, high blood pressure and increased risk of morbidity as well as reduced life expectancy (Field, 2014). In addition, overweight children are also more prone to psychological effects and depression, these affecting girls more than the boys. In the United States, between 16%and 33% of children and teenagers are overweight. It is easily recognizable, however it’s one of the most difficult disorders to treat. Usually, a child is not considered obese until the weight is 10% more than the recommended depending on their height and body type. Unless these overweight children change their eating habits and lifestyle, then they are likely to have a more complicated adult life socially, psychologically and health wise (Hummel-Rossi & Ashdown, 2002).

Among the factors leading to increased cases of obesity include; genetics, where children inherit these genes from their parents and relatives, sedentary behavior which refers to being inactive and not performing physical activities. Poor eating habits is also a critical cause of obesity, where children feed on junk and snacks at the expense of fruits, vegetables and drinking plenty of water. Consequently, obesity results to sociological and psychological effects. Sociologically, children suffering from obesity are not able to relate well with their peers. They are stigmatized and bullied which results to their low self-esteem. They are described as being ugly, greedy and mean (Erdol, Mazzucco & Boccia, 2014). The victimization comes from their age mates as well as those older than them and they end up having the impression that they are lesser members of the society and that do not deserve to be loved. The harassment does not only happen in school, research indicates that even parents and siblings to the obese children tend to tease them about their weight especially financially, where obese kids receive less pocket money, yet they are expected to feel a lot of love and warmth from their homes.

Physical and sociological effects of obesity are visible, therefore dealing with them becomes quite easy however it is difficult to handle the psychological effects resulting from obesity since they cannot be easily noticed. The psychological effects include lowered self-esteem and depression and if not well handled and taken care of, these children may end up committing suicide (Cali & Caprio, 2008).

Effects of Childhood and Adolescent Obesity

Having identified that obesity is a life-threatening issue, and if not well handled it could destroy the future generations, it is clear that a lot needs to be done to secure a bright future for our children. Measures have to be taken to ensure that all school going children are assisted to identify their Body mass index (BMI). Governor Bob McDonnell signed a bill on the screening of children in schools and the results sent to their parents. The children found to be overweight should not be discriminated, rather they require help on healthy eating and doing body exercise. Those found to be healthy should be encouraged to keep up and live healthy lives. Some stakeholders are in support of the effectiveness of interventions in dealing with obesity in teenagers, however, it is not clear whether the interventions should be conducted and publicly financed. Therefore, the stakeholders in question need to consider the general outcome and cost of obesity.

Cost-effectiveness analysis refers to an economic evaluation system applied in resource allocation. It compares the costs and benefits of competing substitutes and alternatives. It can also be defined as a method designed to assess the comparative impacts of expenditures on different health interventions (Edwards, 2011). A number of Cost-effectiveness analysis on child obesity have been conducted, however they provide very little amount of information. In addition, the studies conducted did not pay attention to the features of economic models use of quality adjusted life year (QALYs) versus disability-adjusted life year (DALYs), the suitable amount of discount and finally the analysis of cost-effectiveness. A research on long term and intermediate cost-utility on teenage and child obesity with proper examination of costs and outcomes is yet to be conducted. The process of economic assessment takes place in four major steps, the first one being the identification of the current situation; that is recognizing where we stand currently on the issue of obesity. The second stage is identifying the possible interventions that have to be carried out to get ourselves out of the current situation. The third step involves estimation of all the costs to be incurred in combating obesity and finally calculating the health benefits through identification of all the lives saved.

Cost effectiveness analysis considers the four types of economic evaluation, the first one being cost minimization. The second one is cost benefit analysis where the results of the substitutes are calculated through monetary terms. The third is cost effectiveness analysis and finally cost utility (Erdol, Mazzucco & Boccia, 2014)

Cost-Effective Interventions for Childhood and Adolescent Obesity

This paper intend to bring into clear perspective the short-term, intermediate, long-term cost-effectiveness in view of treating and preventing obesity in children and teenagers. It starts with identifying whether a child is obese or not, done through the calculation of BMI through screening. If the weight of a child is 10% more than the recommended depending on their body type and height, then they are considered to be obese and immediate measures should be taken to prevent the situation from worsening through heathy eating and conducting physical activities. Those found to be healthy are advised to continue having proper diet and exercising.

Obesity like earlier stated results to serious consequences not only to the individual affected and his family but also to the society and the nation as a whole. To the individual, it reduces their self-esteem and increases the possibility of suffering from psychological disorders as well as getting depressed. It also caused heart and liver diseases thus putting the victim at a risk of reduced life expectancy (Colditz, Franklin & Caterson, 2003). The nation spends over 5 billion dollars annually dealing with illnesses and complications caused by obesity, this number is likely to be higher since the research was conducted over 5 years ago. The money used to deal with these complications end up being a burden to the society through paying taxes and revenues.

Intervention refers to a formal strategy put in place to be followed strategically and to ensure that an individual or a group of people achieve their desired objective. While dealing with weight related issues, the time frame has to be safe, realistic and specific, because losing a lot of weight in a short period of time is unhealthy and could result to other health complications, it could also lead to an individual regaining more weight. The short term time frame should be within a month. For children under the age of ten years, they’re set to lose 3-5 pounds per month, while those above the age of ten are expected to lose 5-10 pounds monthly. It is important to quantify the expected amount of weight lost in view of specifying the objective (Summerbell et al., 2005). Ensuring the set amount can safely be lost within one month makes it more realistic. However, the program is expected to last long enough to cover start-up phase and full program implementation, putting into consideration the ongoing costs as well as the school schedule.

This is the period of time in which the stakeholders should wait and see the results and outcome of the process of screening the obese children. The whole program aims at combating obesity in children through assisting those who are overweight to reduce, as well as preventing the healthy ones from becoming overweight. This program should be conducted within a logical three months when all children are attending school (Koplan, Liverman, Kraak 2005).  Among the steps to be taken is teaching them about eating well-balanced meal and drinking plenty of water in addition to doing a lot of exercise and dropping junk foods and snacks. These steps to healthy eating should be lifetime strategies and not only during the analysis time frame. The prevention strategy includes the cost of hiring a professional nutritionist in every school, whose role will include providing guidance to the children, their teachers and guardians about healthy eating. Each school is also expected to set aside 40 minutes every day for physical exercise of all the children as well as set hire a professional trainer, who will supervise the children and take them through the physical exercise (Mernagh et al., 2010).

All available data, information and research were used to come up with the final information. Assumptions were made where information was not available since it is not feasible to obtain all the required data at the stipulated time frame. Alternative outcomes which can be applied to reflect the expected outcome of interest include direct interviews and use of questionnaires about the broad issue of obesity (Techakehakij 2011). Another limitation is the little time available, yet losing weight requires plenty of time and is not a one-day event.

It is advisable for the government to invest heavily on the health of our children since they are the future of our country, therefore I would highly recommend for more advanced of identifying obese children in our schools and society and consequently come up with better ways of reducing this high number. There is need for children to be educated from an early age on the benefits of healthy eating and lifestyles. They also need to understand from an early age on the consequences of obesity. Since not all causes are preventable like genetics, the society needs to embrace and love the children suffering from overweight. The victims usually suffer from low esteem issues due to their weight and segregating them could cause more harm. Nevertheless, since combating obesity is difficult as well as costly, it is better to prevent it. The preventive measures may be home based as well as school, on average, a child spends most of their time in school, and therefore strategies that can be put in place in schools include integrating exercising with quality diet for the children.  Home based strategies should include parents being role models on eating habits as well as encouraging the children to be more active in outdoor activities especially during the holidays.

Conclusion

Childhood obesity as discussed in this paper is costly to the individuals, the society and the nation at large. It is easily recognized and calculated through screening and measuring BMI, however treating it becomes a heavy burden all together, since prevention is better than cure, it is advisable to embrace healthy eating. Introduction of body mass index (BMI) report cards is one of those steps taken to help identify obesity at an early stage before it worsens. This is because parents more than anyone else need to be aware of the state of their children’s health. Talks have been held about finding a better method of presenting this important information to parents, but until another method comes along, then the BMI report cards will continue being used. Diagnosing obesity at early stages goes a long way in easing the process of healing. Therefore screening should be made a compulsory school activity, a lot of attention should also be made on proper diet and physical exercise.

References

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