Increasing Prevalence of Obesity and Overweight Among Adolescents

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Journal Article Summary
Introduction
The article to be summarized is entitled titled ‘Prevalence of a History of Overweight and Obesity in Adolescents with Restrictive Eating Disorders’ and is authored by Jocelyn Lebow, Leslie A. Sim, and Lisa N. Kransdorf. The increasing prevalence of obesity and overweight among children and adolescents has increased the risk of morbidity and mortality in adulthood thus the need to manage and prevent obesity among children and adolescents (Lebow et al. 19). There is an increase in disordered eating and unhealthy weight control practices among the adolescents which place them at risk of an eating disorder. Eating disorders, on the other hand, are associated with a chronic course, high recidivism/reversion and multiple medical and psychological recurring diseases and disorders as well as other risk factors similar to those of obesity (Lebow et al. 19-20). It is, therefore, imperative for caregivers to focus their primary care on the identification and prevention of eating disorders.
The research study sought to investigate the relationship between obesity or overweight and eating disorders characterized by dietetic food restriction and weight loss such as anorexia nervosa (AN). The study was conducted following failures by medical staff who missed to spot restrictive severe eating disorders in two adolescent patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) who had a history of obesity until the symptoms had progressed for several months. The research hypothesis was, ‘adolescents with a weight history above the 85th percentile would be equally represented in a sample of patients with restrictive eating disorders as compared with the general population’ (Lebow et al. 20). The study sought to investigate the prevalence of existing obesity and overweight cases in a sample of adolescent patients seeking treatment with restrictive eating disorders.
Methods
A retrospective cohort study was conducted between January 2007 and July 2013 and involved examining consecutive adolescent patients who had gone for an eating disorder intake evaluation at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, an eating disorders clinic. During the eating disorder intake evaluation, medical practitioners collected information from both the parents and the adolescents which included the patient’s presenting BMI, decrease in BMI from reported symptom onset to eating disorder intake, presenting physical symptoms, menstrual status, and duration of illness from reported symptom onset to eating disorder intake.
The teens were also asked to complete the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) meant to assess eating disorder symptomatology such as dietary restraint, weight, shape, and eating concerns. The questionnaire was scored for every patient using both the EDE-Q Global scale and every subscale which included restraint, weight concerns, shape concerns and eating concerns. An independent study reviewer evaluated medical records from eligible adolescents, and the data was extracted as follows: patient demographics, self-reported BMI at time of eating disorder intake, self-rep...