Measure description
U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (2017) - The Task Force recommends that clinicians screen for obesity in children and adolescents 6 years and older and offer or refer them to comprehensive, intensive behavioral interventions to promote improvements in weight status. (B recommendation)
American Academy of Pediatrics – Bright Futures (Hagan, Shaw, & Duncan, 2017)
- Plot and assess BMI percentiles routinely for early recognition of overweight and obesity.
- Assess barriers to healthy eating and physical activity.
- Provide anticipatory guidance for nutrition and physical activity.
Rationale
Infants and toddlers are particularly vulnerable to infectious diseases because their immune systems have not built up the necessary defenses to fight infection (CDC, 2019). One study estimated that routine childhood vaccines administered in 2019 prevented 24 million diseases (Talbird et al., 2022). Another recent study estimated that routine childhood vaccinations prevented 17.8 million cases of disease and 31,000 deaths for children born in 2017, in addition to saving $13.7 billion in health care costs (Carrico et al., 2022).
Immunizing a child not only protects that child's health but also the health of the community, especially for those who are not immunized or are unable to be immunized due to other health complications (CDC, 2019).
Clinical Recommendation Statements
This measure looks for childhood vaccinations that should be completed by age 2, in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (CDC ACIP) recommended child and adolescent immunization schedule (CDC ACIP, 2022).
-- For the 2022–23 season, see the 2022–23 ACIP influenza vaccine recommendations (Grohskopf, 2022).