Specialties & ConditionsAdvanced General Pediatrics & Primary CarePrograms Obesity Prevention & Management Programs
Obesity Prevention & Management Programs
Lurie Children's, its medical staff and its community partners work together to foster improved obesity prevention and management through a variety of efforts. These relate to one another through the Center on Obesity Management and Prevention (COMP). COMP offers seminars on obesity (odd months, September to May) and journal clubs (even months, October to June), and provides information sharing to participating Lurie Children's faculty and staff.
Primary Care Pediatric Practices
Affiliated primary care pediatric practices address growth, nutrition, physical activity and obesity prevention and management in the course of routine care of children and adolescents. Some practices are working with Lurie Children's Pediatric Practice Research Group (PPRG) to systematically apply current guidelines for obesity detection and management. These guidelines were developed in collaboration with the Clinical Practices Working Group of the Lurie Children's-based Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children.
Wellness & Weight Management Program
The Wellness and Weight Management Program at Lurie Children’s provides compassionate and comprehensive outpatient care for families of children and teenagers who are overweight or obese and want to make healthy lifestyle changes. Because these necessary adjustments can be made at any age, we see patients as young as 6 months old through teenagers up to age 18.
Children look to their families to model healthy eating and physical activity, so we make sure that parents and family members are deeply involved in our care. We guide parents and their children through small steps that lead to lasting change. At each visit, we help families set health behavior goals related to diet and physical activity. We also provide educational handouts to help families through these changes.
Specialty Programs
- Fatty liver disease
- Obstructive sleep apnea
- Kidney diseases
- Type 2 diabetes mellitus
- Asthma
- Arthritis
- Orthopaedic problems
Community-Based Obesity Prevention
Community-based obesity prevention is the focus of the nationally recognized Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children (CLOCC), based at Lurie Children's. CLOCC fosters and facilitates connections between researchers; public health advocates and practitioners; corporations; policymakers; and children, families and communities to promote healthy and active lifestyles for children throughout the Chicago metropolitan area. CLOCC includes more than 700 organizations and more than 1700 individuals, all involved in some aspect of child obesity prevention.
CLOCC works through eight working groups (including ones on clinical care, school systems, early childhood, and policy) and community level work in ten Chicago Community Areas. The consortium has worked with its many partners on City and State policy development related to childhood obesity prevention. CLOCC is funded by philanthropy, its Corporate Advisory Committee and other sources.
Research
Research on childhood obesity is led by investigators based at Lurie Children's and others based in the Stanley Manne Children's Research Institute. Topics include fatty liver and diet in mice, acanthosis nigricans and insulin resistance in youth, variations in clinical phenotypes and co-morbidities in obese children, the epidemiology of metabolic syndrome, the relationships between metabolic syndrome and sleep and osteoporosis, primary care practice systems related to obesity prevention and care, the prevalence of obese children in families of adult bariatric surgery patients, community influences on child physical activity, BMI and lifestyle change in children attending a charter school that focuses on healthy lifestyle promotion, and physical activity levels of children attending park district programs and museums.