Linking electronic health records with community-level data to understand childhood obesity risk.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Environmental and socioeconomic factors should be considered along with individual characteristics when determining risk for childhood obesity.

Objectives

To assess relationships and interactions among the economic hardship index (EHI) and race/ethnicity, age and sex in regard to childhood obesity rates in Wisconsin children using an electronic health record dataset.

Methods

Data were collected using the University of Wisconsin (UW) Public Health Information Exchange database, which links electronic health records with census-derived community-level data. Records from 53,775 children seen at UW clinics from 2007 to 2012 were included. Mixed-effects modelling was used to determine obesity rates and the interaction of EHI with covariates (race/ethnicity, age,

SUBMITTER: Tomayko EJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4492911 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature