KENT COUNTY, Mich. — Four out of ten kids in Kent County are overweight or obese, according to a new study.
The Childhood Obesity Surveillance Report, which drew its conclusions from the medical records of Corewell Health patients (ages 4 to 17) who had a well-child visit between the years of 2017 and 2022, was released last month by the Kent County Health Department.
What is childhood obesity?
According to the report, childhood obesity is defined as having a Body Mass Index (BMI) at or above the 95th percentile for peers of the same age or sex.
- UNDERWEIGHT: Below the 5th percentile
- HEALTHY WEIGHT: 5th to 85th percentile
- OVERWEIGHT: 85th to 95th percentile
- OBESE: At or above the 95th percentile
Children with obesity are more likely to remain obese into adulthood, increasing their risk for a number of health complications, including heart disease and stroke.
"It's a little higher than we would like to see," Kent County Health Department Public Health Educator Johnathan Fuller said about the county's childhood obesity rate.
"But I think that, looking closer into the data, we see a lot of opportunities to be able to work with some of our partners in the community to bring those numbers down."
The Report
To read the full report, click here.
By location
In Kent County, the zip codes of 49507 (Grand Rapids) and 49509 (Wyoming) had the highest percentage of well-child visits where children were identified as obese, while the zip code of 49301 (Ada) had the lowest percentage.
By age group
Those ages 10 to 12 (37.8%) and those ages 13 to 15 (38.2%) had the highest combined percentage of overweight and obese body mass indexes (BMIs).
Those ages 4 to 6 (17.3%) had the lowest combined percentage of these types of BMIs.
By sex
For both males and females, according to the report, "the proportion of healthy patients decreased slightly from 2017-2021 while the proportion of obese patients increased slightly."
In 2022, though, the obesity rates for both sexes slightly dropped, which could be attributed to a retreat from pandemic-related lifestyles, according to Fuller.
"It's hard to really of pinpoint what made that change right at the tail end," he said. "With the next iteration of the report, it'll be interesting to see where we're at."
By race and ethnicity
While childhood obesity is "increasing across all racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups" in the United States, it is more prevalent among non-white populations, per the report.
In Kent County, children of white or Asian race had the highest percentage of healthy BMIs, while black and Native Hawaiian children had the highest rate of obesity.
In addition, Hispanic or Latino patients were more likely to be obese or overweight than their non Hispanic or Latino counterparts.
Here, Fuller cautioned against using race and other markers of identity as the primary predictors of whether a person will become obese or live an unhealthy lifestyle.
"It's important to keep in mind that obesity is very multifaceted, so that that response has to be multifaceted as well," he said. "I think we try and look at things from a holistic standpoint."
"What we're more looking at is, what are all the factors in place here in our different communities, and how can we address those things?"
By insurance status
As people who can afford private insurance "often have better access to doctors, nutrition advice and programs that help with exercise and weight management," per the report, those with private insurance had lower rates of obesity as compared to those with Medicaid (public) insurance.
What now?
While the Childhood Obesity Surveillance Report is the first ever from Kent County, its been working to support healthy eating and strong exercise habits for more than a decade with its Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) Taskforce.
"Any organizations within Kent County that are wanting to join in with this effort to try and reduce childhood obesity, I encourage them to reach out to us at the health department," Fuller said. "That's really what we want, is to work hand in hand with the community and support and uplift the efforts that the community wants to see."
FitKids360 is one of such organizations, which, among other things, offers families a seven-week healthy lifestyle program (in both English and Spanish) free of charge.
For more on FitKids360, click here.
Grand Rapids
