Advantages and Limitations of NHANES-Dataset Driven Childhood Obesity Guidelines: an Interdisciplinary Case Study

Abstract

Significant time, energy, and money is spent towards addressing childhood obesity, yet there is hardly scientific consensus surrounding both species-level causes of obesity, and individual factors that lead to the development of obesity. In the face of the controversial new American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guidelines from early 2023 that now recommend surgery and medication for certain groups of obese children, I propose that an interdisciplinary synthesis of current obesity research and assessment of the AAP’s research practices can offer a meaningful critique on whether or not such drastic, individualistic measures are warranted based on controversial measures of excess adiposity like BMI. An analysis of the history of obesity shows that policy often does not follow scientific consensus. I then present a synthesis of various schools of thought on obesity, showing how the issue largely lies outside the control of the individual. Finally, I propose investigating the role of the NHANES database in the AAP clinical guideline formulation, and find that applying an interdisciplinary scope of analysis demonstrates how such epidemiological databases are being used to bolster clinical guideline formulation that still focuses on poorly understood correlations between BMI and cardiometabolic outcomes,  despite the proclaimed focus on the “whole child” and community in the guidelines–suggesting a need for updated research practices to truly incorporate a more holistic, community based approach to childhood obesity guidelines.