Physicians fear the ‘unexpected’ obesity problem

Overweight child today, orthopedic patient in 20 years.

That’s the fear of a growing number of pediatricians and orthopedic surgeons, many of whom are concerned that the indirect effects of childhood obesity will develop into more direct, serious health problems — think knee and hip replacements —when those children reach young adulthood.

“What we’re seeing now is that obesity is so widespread, it affects almost every aspect of what we do,” says James McCarthy, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon and associate professor of orthopedics and rehabilitation in the School of Medicine and Public Health.

The childhood obesity epidemic in the United States has already been implicated in a long list of serious health conditions: hypertension, sleep apnea, diabetes and kidney stones are beginning to show up decades earlier than they otherwise might. Will orthopedic problems be next?

“Let’s put it this way: A child doesn’t develop serious arthritis at age 6, but obesity at a younger age is likely to trigger it when that patient is 30 or 40,” says McCarthy. “A person with normal body weight might not experience it until they’re 70 or 80.”