Obesity in Pediatric Orthopaedics

Obesity in Pediatric Orthopaedics F. Keith Gettys, J. Benjamin Jackson, and Steven L. Frick Obesity is a rapidly expanding health problem in children and adolescents and is the most prevalent nutritional problem for children in the United States. Some believe that obesity has become a major epidemic in American children, with the prevalence having more than doubled since 1980. This epidemic has led to a near-doubling in hospitalizations with a diagnosis of obesity between 1999 and 2005 and an increase in costs from $125.9 million to $237.6 million between 2001 and 2005. This article describes some of the orthopaedic conditions commonly encountered in over-weight/obese children and adolescents, classically infantile and adolescent tibia vara and slipped capital femoral epiphysis. Also discussed are genu valgum, which has been associated with obesity, and other difficulties encountered in providing orthopaedic care to obese children.