Identification, evaluation, and management of obesity in an academic primary care center.

Background: The rapidly increasing prevalence of obesity among children is one of the most challenging dilemmas facing pediatricians today. While the medical community struggles to develop effective strategies for the treatment of this epidemic, timely identification of obesity by pediatric health care providers remains the crucial initial step in the management of obesity.

Objective: Direct assessment of pediatric clinicians' performance in identifying and managing obesity in clinical practice has not been conducted to date.