Inpatient Obesity Recognition and Diagnosis in Pediatric Patients.

Background And Objectives: Despite obesity's effect on pediatric patient health, the role of hospitalizations in recognizing and diagnosing pediatric obesity is poorly explored.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of pediatric inpatients aged 2 to 18 years utilizing CERNER Health Facts database to determine the: (1) prevalence of obesity in a large, multicenter inpatient database, (2) appropriate International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, obesity diagnosis proportion, and (3) variables associated with appropriate obesity diagnosis. Covariates included patient demographics and hospital descriptors, which were summarized using frequencies, and differences across groups were compared using χ Square testing.

Results: Of the hospitalized children with obesity (19.5%), only 13.2% had an appropriate obesity diagnosis. Appropriate obesity diagnosis increased with higher obesity class and was least common in the South census region at only 8.5%.

Conclusions: Despite pediatric hospitalizations being a potential area for recognition and intervention of obesity, the majority of hospitalized children do not receive an appropriate obesity diagnosis.