{"id":2683,"date":"2025-08-01T01:00:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T05:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncqa.org\/?page_id=2683"},"modified":"2026-01-30T07:52:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T12:52:53","slug":"weight-assessment-and-counseling-for-nutrition-and-physical-activity-for-children-adolescents-wcc","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ncqa.org\/report-cards\/health-plans\/state-of-health-care-quality-report\/weight-assessment-and-counseling-for-nutrition-and-physical-activity-for-children-adolescents-wcc\/","title":{"rendered":"Weight Assessment and Counseling for Nutrition and Physical Activity for Children\/Adolescents (WCC)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The percentage of persons 3\u201317 years of age who had an outpatient visit with a PCP or OB\/GYN and who had evidence of the following during the measurement period:<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\u2022\" data-font=\"Calibri\" data-listid=\"39\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335551671&quot;:3,&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:1080,&quot;335559991&quot;:720,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u2022&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"3\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">BMI Percentile*.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\u2022\" data-font=\"Calibri\" data-listid=\"39\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335551671&quot;:3,&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:1080,&quot;335559991&quot;:720,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u2022&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"3\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Counseling for Nutrition.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-setsize=\"-1\" data-leveltext=\"\u2022\" data-font=\"Calibri\" data-listid=\"39\" data-list-defn-props=\"{&quot;335551671&quot;:3,&quot;335552541&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:1080,&quot;335559991&quot;:720,&quot;469769226&quot;:&quot;Calibri&quot;,&quot;469769242&quot;:[8226],&quot;469777803&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;469777804&quot;:&quot;\u2022&quot;,&quot;469777815&quot;:&quot;hybridMultilevel&quot;}\" data-aria-posinset=\"3\" data-aria-level=\"1\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Counseling for Physical Activity.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">* Because BMI norms for youth vary with age and gender, this measure evaluates whether BMI percentile is assessed rather than an absolute BMI value.<\/span><\/i><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Why\u00a0It Matters<\/h2>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Over the last three decades, childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and tripled in adolescents <sup><a href=\"#ref-1\">1<\/a><\/sup>. Childhood obesity has both immediate and long-term effects on health and well-being. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that overweight children and adolescents are more likely to become obese as adults <sup><a href=\"#ref-2\">2<\/a><\/sup>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Health lifestyle habits, including healthy eating and physical activity, can lower the risk of becoming obese and developing related diseases <sup><a href=\"#ref-3\">3<\/a><\/sup>. Obesity in childhood increases the chances of developing asthma, sleep apnea, bone and joint problems, type 2 diabetes, and other diseases <sup><a href=\"#ref-2\">2<\/a><\/sup>. Obesity can become a lifelong health issue; therefore, it is important to monitor weight problems in children and adolescents and provide guidance for maintaining a health weight and lifestyle <sup><a href=\"#ref-2\">2<\/a><\/sup>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">BMI is a useful screening tool for assessing and tracking the degree of obesity among adolescents. Because BMI norms for youth vary with age and gender, BMI percentiles rather than absolute BMI must be determined. Providers can estimate a child\u2019s BMI percentile for age and gender by plotting the calculated value of BMI on growth curves published and distributed by the CDC <sup><a href=\"#ref-3\">3<\/a><\/sup>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Only 21% of children and adolescents between the ages of 6-17 engage in recommended levels of physical activity <sup><a href=\"#ref-4\">4<\/a><\/sup>. In 2022, daily participation in high school physical education classes is reported as 26% <sup><a href=\"#ref-4\">4<\/a><\/sup>. From 2000-2018, the prevalence of overweight and obesity has increased for children. Among young people, the prevalence of obesity increased from 10.3% to 13.4% for those aged 2\u20135 years; from 15.1% to 20.3% for those aged 6\u201311 years; and from 14.8% to 21.2% for those aged 12\u201319 years <sup><a href=\"#ref-5\">5<\/a><\/sup>. In 2019, the estimated total cost of obesity-related medical costs in the U.S. was about $173B <sup><a href=\"#ref-6\">6<\/a><\/sup>. Promoting regular physical activity and healthy eating, as well as creating an environment that supports these behaviors, is essential to addressing the problem <sup><a href=\"#ref-5\">5<\/a><\/sup>.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Historical Results \u2013 National Averages<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The percentage of persons 3\u201317 years of age who had an outpatient visit with a PCP or OB\/GYN and who had evidence of the following during the measurement period:\u00a0 BMI Percentile*.\u00a0\u00a0 Counseling for Nutrition.\u00a0\u00a0 Counseling for Physical Activity.\u00a0\u00a0 * Because BMI norms for youth vary with age and gender, this measure evaluates whether BMI percentile [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":733,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2683","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Weight Assessment and Counseling for Nutrition and Physical Activity for Children\/Adolescents (WCC) - NCQA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&quot;Assesses children and adolescents 3-17 years of age who had an outpatient visit with a primary care practitioner or OB\/GYN during the measurement year and had evidence of: Body mass index (BMI) percentile documentation, counseling for nutrition, and counseling for physical activity. 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