Doctor’s might fail to tell you when your child is obese

Childhood obesity can be a difficult topic to broach with parents; research indicates as many as 30 percent of parents are in denial about their child’s weight issue. What’s more, some of these parents can become confrontational when the topic is brought up, making doctors even more reluctant to initiate a conversation during a child’s physical.

Though obesity affects all people or all ages, when it comes to doctors and the childhood obesity talk, it appears that Hispanics are receiving the short end of the stick. According to researchers from UT Southwestern Medical Center, one in five Hispanic parents are not directly told by their child’s pediatrician that their children are obese.

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“During primary care visits with overweight children in which there is a language barrier, it is incredibly important to provide a trained medical interpreter or bilingual provider, and use a growth chart to communicate that the child is overweight,” said Dr. Christy Turer, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics,  in a press release.

“Special attention should be paid to directly telling Latino families that the child is overweight using family-preferred terms,” said Dr. Turer. “For example, pediatricians should use phrases such as ‘too much weight for his/her health’ or ‘demasiado peso para su salud,’ and avoid terms such as ‘fat,’ ‘heavy,’ or ‘obese.’ ”

It’s not that doctors are avoiding the childhood obesity conversation completely–though some are–it’s that communication barriers prevent many doctors from properly relaying to parents that a child’s weight can have negative health consequences.

This language barrier, coupled with an already present reluctance to speak with parents about a child’s weight, makes Hispanic parents among those least like to receive weight-management plans, culturally relevant dietary advice, or follow-up visits to address weight.

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Researchers state this is particularly concerning given the fact Hispanic children are more likely than their non-Hispanic white peers to be overweight; the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation indicates 38.2 percent of Hispanic children ages 2 to 19 are overweight or obese, compared with 31.7 percent of all children those ages.

What’s more, among Hispanics, 14.2 percent of children ages 2 to 5 and 25.1 percent of those ages 6 to 11 are obese. By comparison, 9.1 percent of non-Hispanic white children ages 2 to 5 and 19.0 percent of non-Hispanic white children ages 6 to 11 are obese.

Turer and her team indicate the next step is to identify the best ways for doctors to discuss obesity with Hispanic parents, taking in cultural beliefs and a strong sense of family values to make the conversation more appealing.