New guidelines on paediatric obesity

The Endocrine Society has published a new set of guidelines to cover the prevention, treatment, and assessment for paediatric obesity. In the USA paediatric obesity costs an estimated £14.1 billion covering drugs prescriptions, emergency visits as well as outpatient appointments. Therefore there is a drive to identify those children at risk and the address these risks appropriately.

The clinical guidelines provide recommendations on how to evaluate children for medical and psychological complications. They also provide information on when to evaluate children for rare genetic causes of obesity, as well as when to consider medication and different surgical techniques for adolescents. The guidelines state that around 7% of children with severe obesity may suffer from a rare genetic mutation, and specific testing should be carried out if there is early onset obesity (before 5 years of age), an increased drive to eat food, or a family history of severe obesity.