Overweight Children Twice as Likely to Require Medication

A recent study on overweight children found that they had a significantly higher chance of taking prescription medication compared to children of normal weight. The costs that have been associated with treating childhood obesity are already quite expensive, but this will certainly add a lot more to that. Medical researchers from the University of Alberta came to this result after analyzing more than 2,000 pediatric prescriptions obtained during the 2007 through 2009 Canadian Health Measures Survey.

The research team, which was from Alberta’s School of Public Health, uncovered strong evidence that overweight and obese children were taking more prescription drugs than their peers that weighed less than them. In fact, overweight children between the ages of 12 to 19 were found to be 59% more likely to be on some form of medication than kids of average build.

The Cost of Prescription Medication

According to one of the co-authors of the childhood obesity study, Christina Fung, the overall expenditure on prescription medications has been on the rise for the last decade or so. Prescription drugs now account for 17% of all health-care costs in Canada, second only to the overall hospital fees.

Fung believes that with Canada’s public health care system in place, there is now an issue of accountability, and this has affected how and when these health-care dollars are spent. The government and other health-care providers need to be given the entire picture, so that they can allocate the needed funds more appropriately. Right now, the usage of prescription medication for patients who are overweight or obese is costing this health-care system too much.

Upon Further Analysis of the Results

Further analysis of the results from this clinical study showed that obese children were nearly twice as likely to require additional treatment for various respiratory conditions, including asthma and other allergies. The results from this study have been published in the latest issue of Archives of Disease in Childhood.

This has also lent further support to the results of an obesity clinical trial from last year, which showed that overweight children were twice as likely to develop asthma. In both of these studies, the findings came from a comparison of overweight children to healthy-weight children in the same age range.

Shifting Focus to Obesity Prevention

The new government focus seems to be on trying to prevent childhood obesity with related programs and initiatives. Last month was National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month in the United States, and the Canadian government seems interested in doing more of the same. Over the last three decades, they have seen the rate of obesity triple in Canada, and now 34% of the country’s youth are struggling with their weight.

Evidence suggests that by investing in more programs that help children see the benefits of living healthier lives, Canada could see a real drop in their overall health-care costs in the long run. This is because children who are not overweight have a significantly lower chance of developing other serious medical conditions like diabetes, cancer, or cardiovascular-related complications.