Editorial

Overweight and Psychiatric Illness in Children

Authors: Julie C. Lumeng, MD

Abstract

In this issue of the Southern Medical Journal, Hasnain and colleagues1 report on the prevalence of overweight in a cohort of children with major mental illness. In the cohort of 795 children admitted to a large public psychiatric hospital from 2001 to 2003, 54.5% of 6- to 11-year-olds and 51.1% of 12- to 19-year-olds had a body mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to the 85th percentile for age and gender. A total of 31.4% of the children in this cohort were overweight, meaning they had a BMI greater than or equal to the 95th percentile for age and gender.

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References

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