PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Catherine S. Birken AU - Karen Tu AU - William Oud AU - Sarah Carsley AU - Miranda Hanna AU - Gerald Lebovic AU - Astrid Guttmann TI - Determining rates of overweight and obese status in children using electronic medical records DP - 2017 Feb 01 TA - Canadian Family Physician PG - e114--e122 VI - 63 IP - 2 4099 - http://www.cfp.ca/content/63/2/e114.short 4100 - http://www.cfp.ca/content/63/2/e114.full SO - Can Fam Physician2017 Feb 01; 63 AB - Objective To determine the prevalence of overweight and obese status in children by age, sex, and visit type, using data from EMRALD® (Electronic Medical Record Administrative data Linked Database).Design Heights and weights were abstracted for children 0 to 19 years of age who had at least one well-child visit from January 2010 to December 2011. Using the most recent visit, the proportions and 95% CIs of patients defined as overweight and obese were compared by age group, sex, and visit type using the World Health Organization growth reference standards.Setting Ontario.Participants Children 0 to 19 years of age who were rostered to a primary care physician participating in EMRALD and had at least one well-child visit from January 2010 to December 2011.Main outcome measures Proportion and 95% CI of children with overweight and obese status by age group; proportion of children with overweight and obese status by sex (with male sex as the referent) within each age group; and proportion of children with overweight and obese status at the most recent well-child visit type compared with other visit types by age group.Results There were 28 083 well-child visits during this period. For children who attended well-child visits, 84.7% of visits had both a height and weight documented. Obesity rates were significantly higher in 1- to 4-year-olds compared with children younger than 1 (6.1% vs 2.3%; P < .001), and in 10- to 14-year-olds compared with 5- to 9-year-olds (12.0% vs 9.0%; P < .05). Both 1- to 4-year-old boys (7.2% vs 4.9%; P < .01) and 10- to 14-year-old boys (14.5% vs 9.6%; P < .05) had higher obesity rates compared with girls. Rates of overweight and obese status were lower using data from well-child visits compared with other visits.Conclusion Electronic medical records might be useful to conduct population-based surveillance of overweight or obese status in children. Methodologic standards, however, should be developed.