Improving Obesity Documentation in Pediatric Populations

Background: Childhood obesity is a significant problem, with prevalence rates as high as 17%. In addition to long-term health effects such as metabolic syndrome and coronary artery disease, pediatric obesity also presents immediate health and safety risks such as operative complications, difficult airways and medication dosing errors. Large-scale pediatric databases such as the Pediatric Health Information System, drawn primarily from ICD-9/10 codes, may significantly underestimate the prevalence of obesity in the pediatric inpatient and outpatient setting. One recent study in hospitalized children found that discharge ICD-9 codes underestimated the …