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Nevada state policies advance collaborations and efforts to assess nutritional health with body mass indices in children in public schools.
Author(s) -
Meacham Susan L.,
Bungum Nicole,
Taylor Diana,
Hansen Alicia,
Mills Ruth Annette,
Roller Christopher,
Paulsen Barbara
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.23.1_supplement.102.2
Subject(s) - overweight , legislation , public health , obesity , childhood obesity , environmental health , data collection , medicine , psychology , political science , gerontology , nursing , sociology , social science , law
Adult obesity increased in 37 states in the US in 2007. Obesity is associated with much comorbidity with an estimated $337 mil in medical expenses in NV (2003). Over the past 30 yrs the occurrence of overweight in children in the US has doubled and is considered the most prevalent nutritional disorder of US children and adolescents. NV has taken bold measures and was ranked 2 nd and 4 th in 2006 and 2007 for passing policies to improve school food environments. NV educated 426,436 pupils through the public school system last year. In 2007 NV passed legislation to randomly sample public school children in representative schools for body heights and weights to calculate body mass indices. In most districts school nurses weighed all children in 4 th , 7 th , and 10 th grades. Two large districts randomly sampled students to achieve an 95% confidence level with +/‐ 3.5% accuracy. With 12 of 17 districts reporting a minimum overall state collection rate of 90% was achieved. A state wide collaboration was launched to support this 3 yr data collection. Members of county and state agencies, universities, and community non‐profit organizations united to request ongoing sampling, beyond 2010. The collective efforts, with assistance from the Division of Health, provided the first state‐wide data on children's nutritional health. The partners also acknowledge the dedication of the nursing profession for their commitment to action for improving the health of children in NV with no dedicated funding.