Health Assessment of an Underweight Child with Underweight Parents

The discussion presented the health assessment of an underweight 12 years old girl with underweight parents. Being underweight, it is evident that various health issues and risks need to be identified in the child. Finding out the underlying reason for being underweight is necessary. In most cases, it is associated with being malnourished due to food insecurity or pathological disorders such as hyperthyroidism, HIV/AIDS, gastrointestinal complications and genetic metabolic disorders among others.

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The patient is 12 years old hence being underweight will affect her growth and development as she approaches puberty. The cause of her being underweight needs to be addressed to promote healthy growth, development, and quality of life. Carrying out a nutritional assessment is essential in the case (Ball, Dains, Flynn, Solomon, & Stewart, 2015). This will help in knowing whether the patient has problems with access to food or other issues such as malabsorption, lack of appetite or metabolic disorder. As stated, determining the BMI of the patient and obtaining a food intake history using the 24 hour recall is important in carrying nutritional assessment (Luder & Alton, 2015). Also, more history can be obtained by interviewing the patient about their diet and other relevant symptoms.

References

Ball, J. W., Dains, J. E., Flynn, J. A., Solomon, B. S., & Stewart, R. W. (2015). Seidel's guide to physical examination (8th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Mosby.

Luder, E., & Alton, I. (2015). The underweight adolescent. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265189620_The_underweight_adolescent Young, J. (2017). 6 health risks of being underweight. Retrieved from https://www.healthline.com/health/underweight-health-risks.