Health Topic: Childhood Weight Control: Overweight/Obesity
A child is overweight when his or her Body Mass Index (BMI) is at the 95th percentile or above. The rates of overweight AI/AN children are higher than the national averages. Children who are overweight have a greater chance of having problems with blood pressure, cholesterol, triglyceride, and insulin levels. Overweight children are also at risk for emotional problems such as shame, self-blame, and low self-esteem because of their weight. All of these emotional problems can also affect how they learn and get along with others and this can carry into adulthood. One of the major problems of high childhood overweight rates is the growing prevalence of children with type 2 diabetes.

Who should be screened?
Children between the ages 2 and 5.

What is the GPRA measure?
The GPRA measure is the percentage of IHS AI/AN children ages 2 to 5 that have a body mass index (BMI) that is in the 95% range during the year.

How is IHS doing?
The United States long-term goal is for 9.6% of children aged 2 to 5 years to be considered obese by the year 2020 (Healthy People 2020). The 2012 IHS goal was to achieve the long-term target rate of 24% for the proportion of children with a BMI of 95% or higher. IHS achieved this goal by reaching 24.0%. In 2009, this measure was changed from an annual measure to a long-term measure, which means IHS is accountable for performance only in certain years.

The bars on the graph below show that IHS has kept the rate of AI/AN patients ages 2 to 5 with a BMI of 95% or higher at 24%.

View a table of this chart's data.

To see how IHS is doing on this measure at the Area (regional) levels, click here.