Children's overweight and obesity: Local and national monitoring using electronic health records

Abstract

Aim: To test the feasibility of a system for monitoring children's obesity and overweight based on data from electronic health records in the school health services. Methods: Data on weight and height from electronic health records at school health services were collected for 10-year-olds in 2003—2004, 2004—2005 and 2005—2006. School health personnel extracted group-level data with a simple program installed on the computer containing the health records. Four Swedish municipalities were included in the study: Karlstad, Umeå, Västerås, and Ystad. Results: The system achieved coverage of 92—96% of all children in 2005—2006. The overall prevalence rates were 4.2% (3.8—4.7%) obese and 22.0% (21.1—23.0%) overweight, including obesity. Conclusions: A system based on electronic health records from the school health services can successfully provide data. The system has practical, economical and ethical strengths.

Keywords

Child medical records obesity population surveillance school health services

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