Appointment Attendance in a Pediatric Weight Management Clinic

Pediatric weight management clinics offer an intensive, family-centered approach to the obesity epidemic.1–5 These clinics typically involve weekly to monthly visits with a focus on behavior modification, improved nutritional intake, and increased physical activity. The intensity of the treatment (frequent visits, family participation) likely contributes to the high rates of attrition, reported to range from 27% to 73%.6 It is unknown if missed and canceled appointments are a significant problem in pediatric weight management clinics and if they are linked to treatment attrition. Data from pediatric pulmonology, allergy, and asthma clinics indicate that insurance status, season of the year, family ethnicity, length of waiting time for an appointment, and the hour of the appointment within the day can all contribute to appointment attendance.7–11 To our knowledge, there are no studies in the literature about appointment attendance in pediatric weight management clinics. The goal of this study was to identify sociodemographic factors contributing to missed and canceled appointments in a tertiary care pediatric weight management clinic and to determine any associations with weight outcomes and attrition from treatment.