Quick Search:

MOCKSVILLE, N.C. - A body mass index (BMI) screening program sponsored jointly by the Davie County School System and Forsyth Medical Center's Sara Lee Center for Women's Health has found that 44 percent of Davie County elementary and middle school students are overweight or obese. The screenings, conducted last October and November, included more than 1,800 Davie County first, third, fifth and seventh graders.  This is the second year that the Davie County School System has participated in the BMI screening program.

BMI is used to indicate whether a person's body weight is appropriate for their height, age and gender.  A BMI score that is too high may indicate an increased health risk for diabetes, heart disease, stroke, sleep apnea, orthopedic complications and certain cancers.  Students with a BMI that is too low may be at risk for improper bone development, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, weak immune systems and future reproductive complications.

"BMI is a valuable preventive health tool, especially for children," explains Karen Bartoletti, vice president of the Sara Lee Center for Women's Health.  "We have found that a significant number of children involved in our screening program in Davie County are overweight or obese and at risk for developing obesity-related health problems further down the road.  Our hope is that by identifying these at-risk students early, we can help them and their parents develop healthy habits that will improve the health of the entire family and lower the risk of weight-related disease."

BMI screenings are used to classify students in percentile categories that include underweight, healthy weight, overweight and obese.  Students in the 85th to 94th percentile are considered to be overweight, while students in the 95th or higher percentile are considered to be obese.  Students in the 5th or lower percentile category are classified as underweight.  Approximately 795 of the 1,810 students included in the screenings, or about 44 percent, were in the 85th percentile or higher, while less than 1 percent of the students screened were in the 5th percentile or lower.  Last year, 40 percent of screened students were found to be at risk of being overweight.

The schools included in the screenings were Cooleemee, Cornatzer, Mocksville, Pinebrook, Shady Grove and William R. Davie elementary schools and North Davie, South Davie and William Ellis middle schools.  Parents of first-, third-, fifth- and seventh-grade students at these schools were notified about the BMI screenings in advance and given the opportunity to exempt their children from the program.  On average, the parents of 20-30 students at each school chose not to have their child's BMI measurement taken.

"Adolescent obesity is a real problem in Davie County, and the results of these BMI screenings reflect just how widespread the problem is," says Kathy Bokero, lead school nurse for Davie County Schools.  "Our ongoing partnership with the Sara Lee Center for Women's Health at Forsyth Medical Center is helping us measure the scope of the issue and develop programs to help our children get healthier."

Parents whose children have been identified as underweight, overweight or obese were contacted and encouraged to attend a Family Wellness Night to discuss with physicians their child's weight and ways to encourage healthier lifestyles within their families.  Families were also encouraged to take advantage of several adolescent obesity programs the Sara Lee Center for Women's Health offers in Davie County.  These programs include the Healthy Family Adolescent Weight Management Program®, a 12-week program for overweight adolescents (ages 10-15) and their parents, and Girls on the Run, an international program for young girls that builds values and self-esteem through running and mentoring.

The Davie County School System has also pledged to follow the Sara Lee Center for Women's Health's KidSmartSM guidelines in its cafeterias.  These guidelines, which call for eating establishments to offer healthier food options for children, encourage students to make healthier nutritional choices, such as choosing fresh fruit or non-fried vegetables as side items during lunch or drinking skim milk.

"Adolescent obesity is much more than just an appearance issue," says Takashi Hirata, M.D., the family physician at Medical Associates of Davie at Hillsdale, which is affiliated with Forsyth Medical Center.  Dr. Hirata is working with the Sara Lee Center for Women's Health on its BMI initiative in Davie County - including serving as a physician leader for the Healthy Family Adolescent Weight Management Program - and participated in several of the Family Wellness Night discussions.  "Overweight and obese children are much more likely to develop cardiovascular disease, diabetes and joint problems than their healthy-weight peers, and overweight and obese children also miss four times more school and suffer from low self-esteem and other psychosocial issues more often than children who maintain a healthy weight.  This screening is a great first step to help us identify those children who are overweight or obese so that we can teach them the skills they need to grow into happy, healthy adults."