171 Ashley Ave.
Charleston, SC 29425
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October 2007
This edition:
Letter From Our Chair
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L. Lyndon Key, MD
Professor and Chairman
Department of Pediatrics |
Dear faculty, Children's Hospital staff and other friends,
Perhaps, America has faced no more frustrating epidemic than the epidemic of obesity in children. If we look at the average body mass index ((wt in kg)/(ht)2), body mass index anchored after the 1990 census demonstrates that over 30% of all children are obese. This rapid and disturbing trend has led to many projects and programs, but we have only just begun to make a dent in reversing this trend. Traditional programs emphasizing diet and exercise have not been effective. This suggests that the "thumb" exercise generation is not the only cause. The fact that society has become more sedentary (watching every football game on Sunday versus playing in the yard) and has also decided to "super size" everything-happy meals, sodas, cookies, and ourselves.
[read more]
Feature Story
Lean Team aims to tackle obesity within schools - and beyond
The obesity rate among South Carolina's youth is a big problem. So big, says nutritionist Mary Joan Oexmann, MS, RD, that she came out of retirement from MUSC to work on a new educational outreach program focused on tackling it.
Developed by Dr. Janice Key, MD, the Lean Team program is MUSC's response to the South Carolina Institute of Childhood Obesity and Related Disorders, a Duke funded initiative for the prevention and treatment of childhood obesity among the children's hospitals of Greenville, Columbia, Florence, and Charleston.
"We aim to improve health by preventing and treating childhood obesity through individual, family and community change," explains Oexmann.
A national survey determined that nearly 36 percent of South Carolina's children are overweight and/or obese, so it's a program whose time has come, says Oexmann.
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Dr. Janice Key
Director, Division of Adolescent Medicine |
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[read more]
Message From Our Medical Director
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One of the features of this month's newsletter is on childhood obesity. I am sure the story will adequately describe the depth of the problem in our US population, but perhaps the best testimony to its severity is that all of you reading this are already well aware of it. As an institution whose mission is to promote the health and well being of children, we would certainly be remiss to not be pro-active in this area and strongly support weight management and lifestyle programs designed for kids. I have multiple administrative opportunities to promote these programs and have tried to take advantage of all of them in doing so. Our Children's Heart Program of South Carolina, which I direct, began the Heart Health Program described in this issue by its director, Dr. Melissa Henshaw. Although a general pediatrician, she is now a faculty member in Pediatric Cardiology and operates the program in the afternoon hours in our cardiology clinic. As the Medical Director of the hospital, we have supported the program dietician, Janet Carter, in that clinic as well. We have also made sure that the inpatient facility has the capability of caring for adolescents patients who may undergo bariatric surgical procedures (gastric bypass), and have provided strong support recruiting Dr. Andre Hebra, a leader in minimally invasive surgery, to the position of Chief of Pediatric Surgery. Finally, the hospital participates in numerous community based activities aimed at fighting the epidemic of childhood obesity. Even though so many of our faculty and so much of our resources are used to fight the least common but most severe diseases of childhood, there may be no more important way we can promote the future health of our children than addressing childhood obesity head on. We intend to continue to do so! |
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J. Philip Saul, MD
Medical Director
Director, Pediatric Cardiology |
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Darby Children's Research Institute News
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Bernard L. Maria, MD, MBA
Executive Director
Darby Children's
Research Inst. |
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Inderjit Singh, PhD
Scientific Director
Darby Children's
Research Inst. |
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Safer, more effective cardiac ablation for kids
For children with heart rhythm abnormalities, Dr. Dieter Haemmerich's research aims to make treatment safer and more effective.
Kids with arrhythmia benefit from cardiac catheter ablation, during which an electrophysiologist locates the tissue responsible for the abnormal heart beat and then destroys it using either heat (radiofrequency ablation) or cold (cryo ablation), via a catheter inserted into the heart.
"Though heating is the most effective method, coronary vessel shrinkage is a considerable concern," says Dr. Haemmerich, PhD, assistant professor in pediatric cardiology.
"This is especially risky for kids, who have smaller coronary arteries than adults. When you perform this treatment in children, the chance of coronary stenosis is higher because there is less blood flow to protect the vessel from heat-induced shrinkage."
[read more]
Evidence-Based Tip
The Obesity Epidemic: Guidance from Practice Guidelines
Last month, we looked for evidence about the effectiveness of programs aimed at preventing and reducing obesity. We found studies and a systematic review of programs for children, many of which were school based. This month, let's take a look at what we can learn from our practice guidelines.
There are several places to go to look for practice guidelines. The most obvious is the American Academy of Pediatrics. However, finding practice guidelines is a little less than obvious on the web site! Once on the home page [http://www.aap.org], scroll down to find a box on the right-hand side that says "For Medical Professionals." The second link is to "Policy Statements and Practice Guidelines." There you can find not only guidelines, but also clinical and technical reports.
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Laura Cousineau, MLS
MUSC Library
Dept. of Pediatrics EBM Faculty |
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[read more]
A special thanks to the following individuals for their efforts in putting together Kids Connection each month.
Editor-in-Chief: Bernard L. Maria, MD/MBA
Editorial Assistant: Erin Forsberg
Publishers: Brian Cendrowski and Roxanne Hicks, Trio Solutions, Inc.
Feature Writer: Dr. Janice Key
Contributing Writers:
Lyndon Key,
Bernard Maria,
Philip Saul,
Laura Cousineau
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