Increase in childhood Obesity during covid pandemic

Abstract:

Childhood obesity is a serious problem in the United States, putting children and adolescents at risk for poor health. Obesity prevalence among children and adolescents aged 2-19 years in 2017-2020 was 19.7% and affected about 14.7 million children and adolescents. The percentage of US children and adolescents affected by obesity has more than tripled from 5% in 1963 to 19% in 2017. A predictive epidemiologic model estimates that if 2017 obesity trends hold, 57% of children aged 2 to 19 years will have obesity by the time they are 35 years of age, in 2050.

Covid 19 pandemic unsurfaced another coexisting pandemic, obesity. Children were the worst affected. Many children depend on school meals to ensure appropriate nutrition, and these meals were disrupted during lockdowns. Food insecurity increased from 32.6% to 36% between March and July 2020.

Covid reduced physical activity, increased screen time, worsened mental illness and decreased sleep. A recent meta-analysis reported 42% greater risk of obesity with more than 2 hours per day of screen time. Children 13 years and younger with short sleep duration (∼10 hours) had a 76% increased risk of overweight or obesity compared with their counterparts with longer sleep duration (12.2 hours).

Childhood obesity increases the risk of hypertension, mental health challenges, bullying, and poor school achievements, and in the longer term, it leads to adult obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and other non-communicable diseases that cause preventable premature morbidity and mortality.

Obesity is the most common comorbidity in severe cases of Covid-19, suggesting that immune dysregulation, metabolic unbalance, inadequate nutritional status, and dysbiosis are key factors in the complex mechanistic and clinical interplay between obesity and Covid 19.

The Covid 19 pandemic has taught us that nutrition education interventions, access to healthy food, as well as family nutrition counselling should be covered by pediatric services to prevent obesity.

Audience take away

• Significant statistics of prevalence of Childhood Obesity
• Causation of worsening of childhood obesity during Covid
• Interplay of pathophysiology of obesity with Covid

Biography:

Rohan Suri is a junior at Flint Hill School in Oakton, Virginia. He is the founder of non-for-profit NourishMeRight, geared towards increasing awareness in childhood nutrition, and the president of the Healthy Eating and Wellness Club in his high school. He regularly volunteers with INOVA Hospital’s initiative towards childhood obesity: INOVA Healthy Plate Club, where he helps teach young children the importance of choosing the right foods in school. Rohan has co-authored multiple research papers, published in the International Journal of Social Science and Economic Research, investigating AI’s involvement in modern medicine. Currently, Rohan is working to create a new chapter of Team Kid Power, a program focusing on behavioral aspects of nutrition in children, based out of the Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC.