A Longitudinal Effectiveness Study of a Child Obesity Electronic Health Record Tool.

BACKGROUND: Primary-care providers, clinic staff, and nurses play an important role in reducing child obesity; yet time restraints and clinical demands compete with effective pediatric weight management and prevention. METHODS: To investigate the potential impact of an electronic health record (EHR) enabled tool to assist primary care teams in addressing child obesity, we conducted a controlled effectiveness study of FitTastic compared with usual care on the BMI pattern of 291 children (2 to 17 years) up to 4 years later. RESULTS: Per χ2 analysis, a greater proportion of children with baseline overweight/obesity in the EHR tool group than the control group had a favorable BMI pattern (32% vs 13%, P = .03). In logistic regression, FitTastic children were more likely than control children to have a favorable BMI pattern at follow-up (OR 3.8, 95% CI 1.1 to 13.2), adjusted for age, gender, race, and parental education. CONCLUSION: Study findings suggest that EHR-enabled tools to assist primary care teams in managing child obesity may be useful for helping to address the weight in children with overweight/obesity, especially in younger children (2 to 5 years). Digital and EHR-enabled technologies may prove useful for partnering health care teams and families in the important tasks of setting positive, family-centered healthy lifestyle behavioral goals and managing child overweight and obesity.

Beware of the Film Findings!: Low Back Pain Patients and Healthy Volunteers Have A Similar X-Ray Appearance.

Low back pain (LBP) affects 20 to 30% of the United States general population, making it the fifth most common reason for all physician visits in the U.S. The resultant financial burden on the U.S. health care industry continues to rise each year with recent estimates of over $80 billion spent annually. However, despite the dramatic rise in health care utilization and costs for this complaint, self-reported outcomes have not improved. The radiographic analysis of a healthy asymptomatic population vs. a cohort of LBP patients with lumbar degenerative disc disease, specifically as it relates to posture, spinal alignments, including lumbar lordosis, as well as other findings, may provide insight to more effectively care for the LBP patient and, in return, possibly help to rein in related health care costs.