Trixy Mae F.

Hortillano N25

1. Is Daniel at risk? If so, for what? What other epidemiologic data/variables do you need
which can help you in making assessment? Please enumerate.
Daniel is an 11 years old and slightly overweight child. His father is recently diagnosed
with type 2 diabetes and during the screening, Daniel’s blood pressure was at 140/92 mmHg
which is pretty high for a child. Being overweight increases a child’s health risk for a number of
diseases and conditions and with all the given information of Daniel he is at risk for obesity,
hypertension, diabetes, heart diseases, increased risk of impaired glucose tolerance, insulin
resistance, and type 2 diabetes, breathing problems, such as asthma and also joint problems
(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2021).
To further assess Daniel’s condition, we need to assess his lifestyle including his daily
physical activities, diet, sleep pattern. Other than that, determining his BMI and socioeconomic
status it is because in lower-income countries, people with higher SES were more likely to be
obese. Conversely, in high-income countries, those with higher SES were less likely to be obese
(Houle, B., 2013). We also need to determine their familial lifestyle and parental eating behaviors
which are other factors that leads Daniel to be overweight.

2. Are there health promotion activities that you would recommend? If yes, formulate at
least 5 specific obesity prevention program you can suggest to Daniel and his family.
There are health promotion activities that I would recommend and that would be mainly
focuses on lifestyle changes, including:

• Develop healthy eating habits. Daniel’s parents can help him have a healthy weight by
helping him develop healthy eating habits and limiting calorie-rich temptation. To help
children develop healthy eating habits we should provide plenty of vegetables, fruits
and whole-grain products or refer to pinggang pinoy, limit sugary drinks, limit
consumption of sugar and saturated fat and also choose lean meats (CDC, 2021). They
can also help more if they also apply this to themselves and setting as an example for
their child.
We can also recommend to parents to: avoid serving large portions and start with
smaller amounts of foods; put healthy foods and drinks where they are easy to see and
keep high-calorie foods and drinks out of sight; eat fast food less often; try to sit down
to family meals as often as possible and; discourage eating in front of the television,
computer, or other electronic device (NIDDK, 2016)
• Encourage daily physical activity at least 60 minutes a day, although the activity doesn’t
have to be all at once. We can recommend Daniel or his parents to plan active outings,
 such as a walk or hike to a favorite sport, let Daniel play to the playground or joining a
sports team or dance class, fun activities to do at home or on his or her own, such as
playing tag, jumping rope, playing catch, shooting baskets, or riding a bike (wear a
helmet).
• Reduce sedentary time. We should encourage the parents to limit the time Daniel watch
television, use computer, cellphone or other devices to no more than 2 hours per day
(CDC, 2021)
• Stress-free environment. There are few studies examining the relationship between
increases in activity in the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and obesity risk in
children, and their findings are conflicting. Yet, exposure to chronic early life stress has
been shown to lead to stimulation of the SNS, which results in the release of stress
hormones through several channels. Similar to the effects of the HPA axis, this may
influence eating behaviors as well as patterns related to body fat accumulation and thus
increases obesity risk (Eating, H., 2017).
• Ensure adequate sleep. Sleep deprivation is linked to obesity, in part because lack of
sleep causes us to consume more and be less physically active. That is why Daniel needs
to have at least 8 hours of sleep to have adequate energy (CDC, 2021).

References:
Houle, B. (2013). How Obesity Relates to Socioeconomic Status. Retrieved from
https://www.prb.org/resources/how-obesity-relates-to-socioeconomic-status/
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. (2016). Helping Your Child
Who is Overweight. Retrieved from https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/weight-
management/helping-your-child-who-is-overweight
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). Healthy Weight, Nutrition, and Physical
Activity. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/children/index.html
Eating, H. (2017). Stress in Early Life and Childhood Obesity Risk. Retrieved from
https://healthyeatingresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/her_stress_obesity_5-30.pdf