Korean Journal of Child Health Nursing  2005;11(2):240-245

A Review of Childhood Obesity.

Yeonghee SHIN 1

Affiliations

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Keywords

Obesity; Children; Body mass index

Country

Republic of Korea

Language

Korean

Abstract

The problem of childhood obesity is accelerating throughout the world. Korea is no longer an exception to this problem. The following topics are discussed in this review article: 1) the linkage between childhood obesity and adult obesity, which is often associated with metabolic diseases such as type2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, and certain cancers; 2) characteristics of childhood obesity; 3) measurement of obesity and its unique problem; 4) recent trends in interventions for childhood obesity. Lastly, the author points out that nurses are best suited for carrying out interventions to prevent obesity in childhood. As childhood obesity is a risk factor for persistence of obesity into adulthood, the need to consider the priority of prevention of obesity during childhood is emphasized in this review.