(AP) U.S. health officials have revised a tool to track the rising cases of severe obesity among children who were previously off the charts.
Updated growth charts released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now extend to a body mass index of 60 - up from previous charts that stopped at a BMI of 37, with additional categories to track obesity in kids ages 2 to 19.
In recent decades, severe obesity among children in America has nearly quadrupled, experts said.
“We noticed a decade ago that we were kind of outstripping our growth charts,” said Dr. Tom Inge, who directs the weight loss surgery program at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.
The CDC charts are the most widely used tool in the U.S. to track growth and development in kids. Parents are used to discussing the progress of their children’s growth from the time they are babies, noted the CDC's Dr. Alyson Goodman. The new charts will be “extremely helpful” in guiding better conversations between parents and health care providers, she said.
“You use these charts as a visual aid," Goodman said.
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