Tertiary care intervention criteria for weight management include which age/percentile combination?

Tertiary care intervention criteria for weight management include which age/percentile combination?

• A. Ages >6, >95th percentile
• B. Ages >8, >90th percentile
• C. Ages >4, >85th percentile
• D. Ages >10, >99th percentile

Answer: (A)

Tertiary weight-management care is reserved for children with obesity who need intensive, specialized treatment beyond routine advice. In pediatrics, obesity is defined as having a body mass index at or above the 95th percentile for age and sex. When this level is reached in a child older than about 6 years, it signals a situation that often benefits from multidisciplinary, tertiary-level intervention. This combination—age over 6 and BMI above the 95th percentile—precisely reflects the threshold used to justify referral to higher-level weight-management programs. The other options describe overweight categories (lower percentile cutoffs) or age thresholds that typically fall under primary or secondary care rather than tertiary.

Tertiary weight-management care is reserved for children with obesity who need intensive, specialized treatment beyond routine advice. In pediatrics, obesity is defined as having a body mass index at or above the 95th percentile for age and sex. When this level is reached in a child older than about 6 years, it signals a situation that often benefits from multidisciplinary, tertiary-level intervention. This combination—age over 6 and BMI above the 95th percentile—precisely reflects the threshold used to justify referral to higher-level weight-management programs. The other options describe overweight categories (lower percentile cutoffs) or age thresholds that typically fall under primary or secondary care rather than tertiary.