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Jessica Martin
Assessment Tools and Diagnostic Tests in Children
Walden University
NURS-6512N: Advanced Health Assessment & Diagnostic Reasoning
December 16, 2019
This study source was downloaded by 100000828896138 from CourseHero.com on 05-29-2022 05:33:58 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/53762292/WK3Assgnmartinjdocx/
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Case Study: Five-year-old Asian girl of normal weight with obese parents who is home schooled
Assessment Tools and Diagnostic Tests in Children
It is no secret that the rate of obesity is growing not only in America, but all over the
world. This is due to increased access to unhealthy but convenient food and an increased
sedentary life-style. According to recent studies, obesity rates in Asian-Americans are on the rise
due to the acculturation of the American Culture (Gong, Wang, Li, & Alamian, 2019). The
purpose of this paper is to identify and explain the tool used to measure weight status in children,
explain the health issues and risks associated with the child in the given case study, describe how
to gather more information in a sensitive manner, provide further questions to ask the child’s
parents, and provide two strategies to encourage the parents to be proactive in maintaining the
child’s healthy weight.
Body Mass Index (BMI)
Currently, Body Mass Index (BMI) is the gold standard to determine pediatric weight
status (Ball, Dains, Flynn, Solomon, & Stewart, 2019). BMI is calculated by dividing the child’s
weight in kilograms by the child’s square of height in meters (Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, 2018). Because body fat changes with age and gender in children, BMI classification
is determined by sex and age-specific percentiles (Ball, et al., 2019). According to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2018), CDC Growth Charts should be used as an
indicator to measure the size and growth of children. Current percentiles are classified as the
following: underweight - BMI less than the 5th percentile, heathy weight - BMI 5th percentile to
less than the 85th percentile, overweight - BMI 85th percentile to less than 95th percentile, and
obese - BMI 95th percentile or greater (Ball, et al, 2019; CDC, 2018). The child’s growth patters
This study source was downloaded by 100000828896138 from CourseHero.com on 05-29-2022 05:33:58 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/53762292/WK3Assgnmartinjdocx/
Jessica Martin
Assessment Tools and Diagnostic Tests in Children
Walden University
NURS-6512N: Advanced Health Assessment & Diagnostic Reasoning
December 16, 2019
This study source was downloaded by 100000828896138 from CourseHero.com on 05-29-2022 05:33:58 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/53762292/WK3Assgnmartinjdocx/
, 2
Case Study: Five-year-old Asian girl of normal weight with obese parents who is home schooled
Assessment Tools and Diagnostic Tests in Children
It is no secret that the rate of obesity is growing not only in America, but all over the
world. This is due to increased access to unhealthy but convenient food and an increased
sedentary life-style. According to recent studies, obesity rates in Asian-Americans are on the rise
due to the acculturation of the American Culture (Gong, Wang, Li, & Alamian, 2019). The
purpose of this paper is to identify and explain the tool used to measure weight status in children,
explain the health issues and risks associated with the child in the given case study, describe how
to gather more information in a sensitive manner, provide further questions to ask the child’s
parents, and provide two strategies to encourage the parents to be proactive in maintaining the
child’s healthy weight.
Body Mass Index (BMI)
Currently, Body Mass Index (BMI) is the gold standard to determine pediatric weight
status (Ball, Dains, Flynn, Solomon, & Stewart, 2019). BMI is calculated by dividing the child’s
weight in kilograms by the child’s square of height in meters (Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, 2018). Because body fat changes with age and gender in children, BMI classification
is determined by sex and age-specific percentiles (Ball, et al., 2019). According to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2018), CDC Growth Charts should be used as an
indicator to measure the size and growth of children. Current percentiles are classified as the
following: underweight - BMI less than the 5th percentile, heathy weight - BMI 5th percentile to
less than the 85th percentile, overweight - BMI 85th percentile to less than 95th percentile, and
obese - BMI 95th percentile or greater (Ball, et al, 2019; CDC, 2018). The child’s growth patters
This study source was downloaded by 100000828896138 from CourseHero.com on 05-29-2022 05:33:58 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/53762292/WK3Assgnmartinjdocx/
