Abstract

Central California is among the world’s largest producers of nutrient-rich foods, yet this region sees higher
rates of pediatric obesity compared to the national average. This study aims to analyze pediatric patient data in a rural agricultural town in Central California, to determine if there is an association between a pediatric patient’s government funded insurance and obesity statuses.
This is a retrospective study conducted at an Adventist Health outpatient pediatric clinic in Reedley, CA. Patient diagnosis codes, insurance plans, and financial codes were gathered for all patient encounters between January 2019 and September 2021. A Pearson chi-square statistical test will be run to determine if there is an association between government-funded insurance and obesity statuses.
Total patients, after duplicate patient encounters were identified/filtered, were 11732, 5700, and 4278 for 2019-2021, respectively. Total obese patients, after identification/filtering of duplicate patient encounters, were 1301, 843, and 738 for 2019-2021, respectively. The association between government insurance and obesity statuses was determined to be statistically significant in 2019 (p < .02), while no statistically significant association was found in 2020 and 2021. Outpatient visits across most specialties have decreased since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the largest decrease seen in pediatrics. Additionally, the percentage of obese pediatric patients in our study population increased each year as the COVID-19 pandemic progressed. Our data suggests there may be an association between government funded insurance status and obesity status in the pediatric patient population.