A Longitudinal Effectiveness Study of a Child Obesity Electronic Health Record Tool.

Background: Primary-care providers, clinic staff, and nurses play an important role in reducing child obesity; yet time restraints and clinical demands compete with effective pediatric weight management and prevention.

Methods: To investigate the potential impact of an electronic health record (EHR) enabled tool to assist primary care teams in addressing child obesity, we conducted a controlled effectiveness study of FitTastic compared with usual care on the BMI pattern of 291 children (2 to 17 years) up to 4 years later.

Results: Per χ analysis, a greater proportion of children with baseline overweight/obesity in the EHR tool group than the control group had a favorable BMI pattern (32% vs 13%, = ).