Obesity and Joint Injuries in Children

Compared with normal weight peers, children had an increased risk of lower extremity injury if they were overweight (body mass index [BMI] in the 85th to 95th percentile; odds ratio [OR] = 1.18; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.15 to 1.20), obese (BMI in the 95th percentile to 1.2 × 95th percentile; OR = 1.24; 95% CI, 1.20 to 1.27), or extremely obese (BMI greater than 1.2 × 95th percentile; OR = 1.34; 95% CI, 1.30 to 1.39). Another large, retrospective, cross-sectional cohort study showed similar results in more than 23,000 children three to 14 years of age presenting to a pediatric emergency department with a traumatic injury.3 Obese children (BMI greater than 95th percentile) were more likely to present with lower extremity injuries (OR = 2.01; 95% CI, 1.85 to 2.17), but not upper extremity injuries (OR = 1.00; 95% CI, 0.93 to 1.08) compared with nonobese peers. A prospective cohort study enrolled 199 children eight to 18 years of age presenting to the emergency department with an acute ankle sprain.5 The patients were surveyed about their health status six months after the initial injury.