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Recommendations released for obesity-related conditions in children
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The Children’s Hospital Association and 25 of the nation’s top children’s hospitals recently released recommendations for treatments and screening for obesity-related conditions in children.
“Childhood obesity represents an unprecedented challenge to child health and the services provided by pediatricians due to life-threatening conditions resulting from obesity,” Mark Wietecha, president and CEO of the Children’s Hospital Association, said in a press release. “By defining standard plans for screening and treatment of comorbidities that, until recently, were rarely seen in children, our clinicians have taken an important step in addressing the conditions at first line of defense — the primary care pediatrician.”
Mark Wietecha
The recommendations, published in Childhood Obesity, were developed by a subcommittee of clinician experts for the use by primary pediatricians for identification and treatment of lipid abnormalities, abnormal liver enzymes, hypertension and polycystic ovary syndrome among children with obesity. The recommendations also identify when children need specialists for ongoing care.
“In providing a core set of user-friendly consensus statements on screening and treatment plans for lipid abnormalities, abnormal liver enzymes, hypertension and PCOS, we are not only empowering the primary pediatrician to address diseases that are rapidly spreading among children with obesity, we hope to motivate families to address these serious health conditions with a provider whom they’ve held a longstanding relationship,” Elizabeth Estrada, MD, director of the Pediatric Obesity Center at the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, said in the release.
Disclosure: The study was funded in part by the Children’s Hospital Association. One researcher reports financial ties with Bristol-Myers Squibb and Merck.
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