Underdiagnosis of pediatric obesity and underscreening for fatty liver disease and metabolic syndrome by pediatricians and pediatric subspecialists.

Objectives: To evaluate how often general pediatricians, pediatric endocrinologists, and gastroenterologists diagnose children as overweight and how often interventions are provided, including nutritional counseling and screening for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and metabolic syndrome.

Study Design: The study was a retrospective chart review of outpatient visits at 2 academic hospitals.

Results: A total of 2256 patient visits were analyzed, including 715 visits by overweight children.