Severe Obesity and Global Developmental Delay in Preschool Children: Findings from a Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program Study

Overview

Journal Paediatr Child Health

Publisher Oxford University Press

Specialty Pediatrics

Date 2023 May 8

PMID 37151929

Authors

Nicole D Gehring

Catherine S Birken

Stacey Belanger

Tracey Bridger

Jean-Pierre Chanoine

William T Gibson

Stasia Hadjiyannakis

Jess Haines

Jill Hamilton

Andrea M Haqq

Melanie Henderson

Josephine Ho

Brittany Irvine

Laurent Legault

Paola Luca

Jonathon Maguire

Amy C McPherson

Katherine Morrison

Gita Wahi

Rosanna Weksberg

Lonnie Zwaigenbaum

Geoff D C Ball

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: The co-presentation of severe obesity (SO) and global developmental delay (GDD) in Canadian preschool children has not been examined. However, SO and GDD may require syndromic diagnoses and unique management considerations.

Objectives: To determine (1) minimum incidence; (2) age of onset and risk factors; and (3) health care utilization for co-presenting SO and GDD.

Methods: Through the Canadian Paediatric Surveillance Program (CPSP), a monthly form was distributed to participants from February 2018 to January 2020 asking for reports of new cases of SO and GDD among children ≤5 years of age. We performed descriptive statistics for quantitative questions and qualitative content analysis for open-ended questions.

Results: Forty-seven cases (64% male; 51% white; mean age: 3.5 ± 1.2 years) were included. Age of first weight concern was 2.5 ± 1.3 years and age of GDD diagnosis was 2.7 ± 1.4 years. Minimum incidence of SO and GDD was 3.3 cases per 100,000 for ≤5 years of age per year. Identified problems included school and/or behavioural problems (n = 17; 36%), snoring (n = 14; 30%), and asthma/recurrent wheeze (n = 10; 21%). Mothers of 32% of cases (n = 15) had obesity and 21% of cases (n = 10) received neonatal intensive care. Microarray was ordered for 57% (n = 27) of children. A variety of clinicians and services were accessed. As reported by CPSP participants, challenges faced by families and health service access were barriers to care.

Conclusion: Children with SO and GDD have multiple comorbidities, and require early identification and referral to appropriate services. These cases may also benefit from additional testing to rule out known genetic obesity syndromes.

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