Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Jun;19(3):191-7.
doi: 10.1136/injuryprev-2012-040341. Epub 2012 Jul 11.

Associations between childhood obesity and upper and lower extremity injuries

Annette L Adams  1 , Jeffrey I Kessler, Krikor Deramerian, Ning Smith, Mary Helen Black, Amy H Porter, Steven J Jacobsen, Corinna Koebnick
Affiliations

Associations between childhood obesity and upper and lower extremity injuries

Annette L Adams et al. Inj Prev. 2013 Jun.

Abstract

Objectives: To estimate the overall and age-specific associations between obesity and extremity musculoskeletal injuries and pain in children.

Methods: This cross-sectional study used information from electronic medical records of 913178 patients aged 2-19 years enrolled in an integrated health plan in the period 2007-2009. Children were classified as underweight, normal weight, overweight, or moderately/extremely obese and, using multivariable logistic regression methods, the associations between weight class and diagnosis of upper or lower extremity fractures, sprains, dislocations and pain were calculated.

Results: Overweight (OR 1.18, 95% CI 1.15 to 1.20), moderately obese (OR 1.24, 95% CI 1.20 to 1.27) and extremely obese (OR 1.34, 95% CI 1.30 to 1.39) children had statistically significantly higher odds of lower extremity injuries/pain compared to normal weight, adjusted for sex, age, race/ethnicity and insurance status. Age-stratified analyses yielded similar results. No consistent association was observed between body mass index and injuries/pain of the upper extremities.

Conclusions: Greater body mass index is associated with increased odds of lower extremity injuries and pain issues. Because the benefits of physical activity may still outweigh the risk of injury, attention should be paid to injury prevention strategies for these children at greater risk for lower extremity injuries.

Keywords: Obesity; adolescent; body mass; body weight; child; childhood; fractures; injuries; outcome of injury; pain; populations/contexts; risk/determinants; youth.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

References

    1. Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Curtin LR, et al. Prevalence of high body mass index in US children and adolescents, 2007–2008. JAMA. 2010;303:242–9. - PubMed
    1. Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Curtin LR, et al. Prevalence of overweight and obesity in the United states, 1999–2004. JAMA. 2006;295:1549–55. - PubMed
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Injury Prevention & Control: Data & Statistics Web-Based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2008.
    1. Pomerantz WJ, Timm NL, Gittelman MA. Injury patterns in obese versus nonobese children presenting to a pediatric emergency department. Pediatrics. 2010;125:681–5. - PubMed
    1. Rana AR, Michalsky MP, Teich S, et al. Childhood obesity: a risk factor for injuries observed at a level-1 trauma center. J Pediatr Surg. 2009;44:1601–5. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types