Obesity in children is the main risk factor for serious hip disease later in life and sometimes as early as adolescence, these Liverpool researchers warn, so that increasing rates of obesity in children lead to the increase in urgent surgeries among adolescents, due to debilitating hip disease. A study presented in the journal Pediatrics, specifically focused on slipped capital femoral epiphysis, a disease that affects 1 in 2,000 children.
This disease, frequently confused with a severe dislocation of the hip, is characterized by a real deformation, even “collapse” of the hip, which leads to pain and lifelong disability. Early detection and treatment of the disease is important to minimize its severity. Slipped capital femoral epiphysis is one of the most common causes of hip replacements in young adults, and sometimes even children. Surgeons have long suspected that obesity may be the cause, and this study adds to the evidence of its responsibility.
The study looked at the body mass index (BMI) of nearly 600,000 children in Scotland, where BMI measurements are collected through routine school health screening. Analysis of data from this very large cohort of children shows that:
- children who are obese at age 5 have a 75% risk of remaining obese by age 12;
- and above all, children suffering from severe obesity at the age of 5 years are 20 times more likely to develop epiphysiolysis femoris than a child of normal weight;
- Finally, the higher the BMI of the child, the higher the risk of slipped capital femoral epiphysis.
Crucial Implications for Physicians: Lead author Dr. Daniel Perry, pediatric orthopedic surgeon at Alder Hey Hospital comments on these findings: "Surgeons have long suspected that obesity in children is at the root of this disease, and these results show it very clearly. These are very important data for doctors who treat children with slipped capital femoral epiphysis, especially in obese children. Early identification of the disease means children usually only need relatively simple surgery, while later identification most often involves high-risk reconstructive surgery.”
While slipped capital femoral epiphysis has a profound impact on the quality of life of adolescents, the link with obesity is striking, here is therefore a new reason to ensure the healthy weight of children, and this from an early age.