One of the new pediatric suites at Tucson Medical Center has extra-wide doorways and a lift for young, obese patients.
"It's enough of an issue in the community that we built a room for these patients," TMC spokeswoman Julia Strange said.
Nearly 18 percent of Arizona children are obese, and the rate of childhood obesity here rose by nearly half between 2003 and 2007, says a study published in May 2010 in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. Arizona posted the biggest increase in childhood obesity prevalence of all states in that time frame, the study says. Among Arizona girls, the rate rose by nearly 91 percent.
