Sarah Commisso Armstrong

Sarah Commisso Armstrong
Associate Professor of Pediatrics

Dr. Armstrong's clinical and research interests include pediatric nutrition and the treatment of childhood and adolescent obesity, along with related health problems. As director of the Duke Children's Healthy Lifestyles Program, Dr. Armstrong oversees a cohort of over 3000 overweight children and teenagers. She is a member of the Executive Committee for the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Obesity. Dr. Armstrong's research focuses on leveraging innovative strategies to improve children's nutrition and activity, including mobile health interventions, community partnerships, and medication or surgical approaches.

Current Appointments & Affiliations

Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Pediatrics, Primary Care Pediatrics, Pediatrics 2014
Associate Professor in the Department of Community and Family Medicine, Community and Family Medicine, Community Health, Community and Family Medicine 2014
Associate Professor Track V in Population Health Sciences, Population Health Sciences, Basic Science Departments 2018
Affiliate, Duke Global Health Institute, Duke Global Health Institute, University Institutes and Centers 2016
Member of the Duke Clinical Research Institute, Duke Clinical Research Institute, Institutes and Centers 2017

Contact Information

4020 N. Roxboro Rd, Durham, NC 27710
Box 3675 Med Ctr, Durham, NC 27710
sarah.c.armstrong@duke.edu (919) 620-5374

Background
Education, Training, & Certifications
- Pediatric Internship & Residency, Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia 2000 - 2003
- M.D., University of Virginia 2000
Duke Appointment History
- Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Pediatrics, Primary Care Pediatrics, Pediatrics 2010 - 2014
- Medical Instructor in the Department of Pediatrics, Pediatrics, Primary Care Pediatrics, Pediatrics 2006 - 2010
Recognition
In the News
- FEB 26, 2018
  
  Newest Data Shows Childhood Obesity Continues to Increase
- APR 26, 2016
  
  Despite Efforts, Child Obesity Remains on the Rise
Research
Selected Grants
Publications & Artistic Works
Selected Publications
- Academic Articles
  - "Skinner AC, Ravanbakht SN, Skelton JA, Perrin EM, Armstrong SC. Prevalence of Obesity and Severe Obesity in US Children, 1999-2016. Pediatrics. 2018;141(3):e20173459." Pediatrics 142, no. 3 (September 2018). Full Text
  - Armstrong, S, Wong, CA, Perrin, E, Page, S, Sibley, L, and Skinner, A. "Association of Physical Activity With Income, Race/Ethnicity, and Sex Among Adolescents and Young Adults in the United States: Findings From the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2007-2016." Jama Pediatrics 172, no. 8 (August 2018): 732-740. Full Text
  - Andrews, M, Sawyer, C, Frerichs, L, Skinner, AC, Hoffman, J, Gaskin, K, and Armstrong, S. "Feasibility of a Clinic-Community Partnership to Treat Childhood Obesity." Clinical Pediatrics 57, no. 7 (June 2018): 783-791. Full Text
  - Skinner, AC, Ravanbakht, SN, Skelton, JA, Perrin, EM, and Armstrong, SC. "Prevalence of Obesity and Severe Obesity in US Children, 1999-2016." Pediatrics 141, no. 3 (March 2018). Full Text
  - Armstrong, SC, Puhl, R, Skinner, AC, and Kratka, A. "Person-first language in pediatric obesity research." Pediatric Obesity 13, no. 2 (February 2018): 130-null. (Letter) Full Text
  - Armstrong, S, Mendelsohn, A, Bennett, G, Taveras, EM, Kimberg, A, and Kemper, AR. "Texting Motivational Interviewing: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Motivational Interviewing Text Messages Designed to Augment Childhood Obesity Treatment." Childhood Obesity 14, no. 1 (January 2018): 4-10. Full Text
  - Hoffman, J, Frerichs, L, Story, M, Jones, J, Gaskin, K, Apple, A, Skinner, A, and Armstrong, S. "An Integrated Clinic-Community Partnership for Child Obesity Treatment: A Randomized Pilot Trial." Pediatrics 141, no. 1 (January 2018). Full Text
  - Pont, SJ, Puhl, R, Cook, SR, Slusser, W, SECTION ON OBESITY, , and OBESITY SOCIETY, . "Stigma Experienced by Children and Adolescents With Obesity." Pediatrics 140, no. 6 (December 2017). (Review) Full Text
  - Winkler, MR, Moore, ED, Bennett, GG, Armstrong, SC, and Brandon, DH. "Parent-adolescent influences on everyday dietary practices: Perceptions of adolescent females with obesity and their mothers." Maternal & Child Nutrition 13, no. 4 (October 2017). Full Text
  - Magge, SN, Goodman, E, Armstrong, SC, COMMITTEE ON NUTRITION, , SECTION ON ENDOCRINOLOGY, , and SECTION ON OBESITY, . "The Metabolic Syndrome in Children and Adolescents: Shifting the Focus to Cardiometabolic Risk Factor Clustering." Pediatrics 140, no. 2 (August 2017). Full Text
  - Puhl, RM, Himmelstein, MS, Armstrong, SC, and Kingsford, E. "Adolescent preferences and reactions to language about body weight." International Journal of Obesity (2005) 41, no. 7 (July 2017): 1062-1065. Full Text
  - Kirk, S, Armstrong, S, King, E, Trapp, C, Grow, M, Tucker, J, Joseph, M, Liu, L, Weedn, A, Sweeney, B, Fox, C, Fathima, S, Williams, R, Kim, R, and Stratbucker, W. "Establishment of the Pediatric Obesity Weight Evaluation Registry: A National Research Collaborative for Identifying the Optimal Assessment and Treatment of Pediatric Obesity." Childhood Obesity (Print) 13, no. 1 (February 2017): 9-17. Full Text
  - Armstrong, SC, and Skinner, AC. "Defining "Success" in Childhood Obesity Interventions in Primary Care." Pediatrics 138, no. 4 (October 2016). Full Text
  - Armstrong, S, Lazorick, S, Hampl, S, Skelton, JA, Wood, C, Collier, D, and Perrin, EM. "Physical Examination Findings Among Children and Adolescents With Obesity: An Evidence-Based Review." Pediatrics 137, no. 2 (February 2016): e20151766-null. (Review) Full Text
  - Pollak, KI, Nagy, P, Bigger, J, Bilheimer, A, Lyna, P, Gao, X, Lancaster, M, Watkins, RC, Johnson, F, Batish, S, Skelton, JA, and Armstrong, S. "Effect of teaching motivational interviewing via communication coaching on clinician and patient satisfaction in primary care and pediatric obesity-focused offices." Patient education and counseling 99, no. 2 (February 2016): 300-303. Full Text
  - Newbern, D, Gumus Balikcioglu, P, Balikcioglu, M, Bain, J, Muehlbauer, M, Stevens, R, Ilkayeva, O, Dolinsky, D, Armstrong, S, Irizarry, K, and Freemark, M. "Sex differences in biomarkers associated with insulin resistance in obese adolescents: metabolomic profiling and principal components analysis." The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism 99, no. 12 (December 2014): 4730-4739. Full Text
  - Dolinsky, DH, Armstrong, S, Mangarelli, C, and Kemper, AR. "The association between vitamin D and cardiometabolic risk factors in children: a systematic review." Clinical Pediatrics 52, no. 3 (March 2013): 210-223. (Review) Full Text
  - Dolinsky, DH, Armstrong, SC, and Kinra, S. "The clinical treatment of childhood obesity." Indian J Pediatr 80 Suppl 1 (March 2013): S48-S54. (Review) Full Text Link to Item
  - Dolinsky, DH, Armstrong, SC, and Kinra, S. "The clinical treatment of childhood obesity." Indian journal of pediatrics 80 Suppl 1 (January 1, 2013). (Review)
  - Dolinsky, DH, Armstrong, SC, and Østbye, T. "Predictors of attrition from a clinical pediatric obesity treatment program." Clin Pediatr (Phila) 51, no. 12 (December 2012): 1168-1174. Full Text Link to Item
  - Schwartz, RP, Vitolins, MZ, Case, LD, Armstrong, SC, Perrin, EM, Cialone, J, and Bell, RA. "The YMCA Healthy, Fit, and Strong Program: a community-based, family-centered, low-cost obesity prevention/treatment pilot study." Childhood Obesity 8, no. 6 (December 2012): 577-582. Full Text
  - Dolinsky, DH, Armstrong, SC, Walter, EB, and Kemper, AR. "The effectiveness of a primary care-based pediatric obesity program." Clin Pediatr (Phila) 51, no. 4 (April 2012): 345-353. Full Text Link to Item
  - Silberberg, M, Carter-Edwards, L, Murphy, G, Mayhew, M, Kolasa, K, Perrin, EM, Armstrong, S, Graham, C, and Menon, N. "Treating pediatric obesity in the primary care setting to prevent chronic disease: perceptions and knowledge of providers and staff." North Carolina medical journal 73, no. 1 (January 2012): 9-14.
  - Armstrong, SC, Wacker, J, Best, D, and McPherson, ME. "Fighting childhood obesity (Part 2): Resources to help the community physician curb this epidemic." Contemporary Pediatrics 28, no. 2 (2011).
  - Dolinsky, DH, Siega-Riz, AM, Perrin, E, and Armstrong, SC. "Recognizing and preventing childhood obesity: Challenging pediatricians with averting this epidemic even in their littlest patients." Contemporary pediatrics 28, no. 1 (January 2011): 32-42.
  - Dolinsky, DH, and Armstrong, S. "An 8-year-old girl with headache and syncope." Pediatric Annals 40, no. 12 (2011): 594-597. Full Text
  - Slusser, W, Staten, K, Stephens, K, Liu, L, Yeh, C, Armstrong, S, DeUgarte, DA, and Haemer, M. "Payment for obesity services: Examples and recommendations for stage 3 comprehensive multidisciplinary intervention programs for children and adolescents." Pediatrics 128, no. SUPPL.2 (2011): S78-S85. Full Text
  - Bravender, T, Russell, A, Chung, RJ, and Armstrong, SC. "A "novel" intervention: a pilot study of children's literature and healthy lifestyles." Pediatrics 125, no. 3 (March 2010): e513-e517. Full Text
  - Armstrong, SC, and Seunarine, H. "Limits of the Health Plan Employer Data Information Set (HEDIS) criteria in determining asthma severity for children, applied to an impoverished, urban population [26]." Pediatrics 115, no. 5 (2005): 1453--. Full Text
- Book Sections
  - Armstrong, SC. "Early Life and Epidemiologic Factors Associated with Child Obesity." In Clinical Care of the Child with Obesity: A Learner's and Teacher's Guide. McGraw Hill Professional, September 22, 2015.
  - Armstrong, SC. "Motivational Interviewing in pediatric and adolescent mental health care." In Dulcan's Textbook of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. American Psychiatric Pub, August 31, 2015.
  - Dolinsky, DH, Baker-Smith, CM, Czinn, AE, Milazzo, AS, and Armstrong, SC. "Chapter 9: Lifestyle interventions for blood pressure control in children and adolescents." In Nutrition, Lifestyle Factors, and Blood Pressure, edited by PH Lin and LP Svetkey. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press, June 25, 2012. (Chapter)
  - Armstrong, SC. "Adolescent Obesity." In Adolescent Medicine Today A Guide to Caring for the Adolescent Patient. World Scientific, 2012.
  - Dolinsky, DH, Armstrong, SC, Baker-Smith, CM, Czinn, AE, and Milazzo, AS. "Lifestyle interventions for blood pressure control in children and adolescents." In Nutrition, Lifestyle Factors, and Blood Pressure, 159-190. January 1, 2012.
Teaching & Mentoring
Recent Courses
- PEDS 430C: Healthy Lifestyles Program: A Clinical, Family-Based Approach to Pediatric Obesity 2018
- PSY 210: The Psychology of Obesity 2018
Advising & Mentoring
- Dr. Armstrong is an approved research mentor for third year medical students.

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Education, Training, & Certifications

Duke Appointment History

In the News

Selected Grants

Selected Publications

Academic Articles

Book Sections

Recent Courses

Advising & Mentoring