A Comprehensive Multidisciplinary Management Plan Is Effective in Reducing the Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity in Childhood and Adolescence

Abstract

Background: Obesity in childhood and adolescence represents a major health problem of our century. In Greece, 30-35% of children and adolescents are overweight or obese. Objective and Hypotheses: To investigate the effectiveness of a comprehensive multidisciplinary personalized management plan at reducing the prevalence of overweight and obesity in childhood and adolescence. Patients and Methods: One thousand (n = 1,000) children and adolescents aged 2-18 years (mean age ± SD: 10.09 ± 2.86 years; 520 females, 480 males) were studied prospectively. Subjects were classified as obese (n = 579, 57.9%), overweight (n = 295, 29.5%) or having a normal body mass index (BMI) (n = 126, 12.6%) according to the International Obesity Task Force cutoff points. All subjects were evaluated by a multidisciplinary team at frequent intervals, received personalized advice on diet and exercise and were studied prospectively for 1 year. Detailed clinical evaluation and laboratory investigations were performed at the beginning and at the end of the study. Results: At initial evaluation, 57.9% of subjects were obese, 29.5% overweight and 12.6% of normal BMI. Indices of cardiometabolic disease were higher in obese than in overweight and normal-BMI subjects. Following 1 year of multidisciplinary management interventions, the prevalence of obesity decreased by 16.8%, the prevalence of normal BMI increased by 8.2%, and all cardiometabolic indices improved significantly. Conclusions: A personalized multidisciplinary management plan is effective at reducing the prevalence of obesity in childhood and adolescence.

The Emerging Role of Sfrp5 and Wnt5a in the Pathogenesis of Obesity: Implications for a Healthy Diet and Lifestyle

“…It is characterized by the increased accumulation of body fat, especially visceral adipose tissue. BMI (body weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters) is used as the standard clinical measure of overweight and obesity, although it has limitations when it is applied for muscular subjects, given that it cannot distinguish between lean and fat mass and fat mass distribution [8,9]. According to WHO, for adults, overweight corresponds to a BMI between 25-30 kg/m 2 and obesity to a BMI > 30 kg/m 2 .…”

“…To this end, the early implementation of multidisciplinary personalized intervention programs for the prevention and management of overweight and obesity in childhood and adolescence is imperative. Several lifestyle intervention strategies have been proposed, which mostly involve a healthy lifestyle of diet, sleep and physical activity [ 7 , 8 , 9 ]. In addition, novel e-health applications have been developed to address the epidemic of childhood obesity [ 10 , 11 ].…”

Novel e-Health Applications for the Management of Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Children and Adolescents in Greece

“…At present, more than 3,000 children and adolescents are followed up on a regular basis. We demonstrated that this personalized multi-disciplinary management plan is effective in reducing the prevalence of obesity in childhood and adolescence after one year of intervention [15,16].…”

A National e-Health Program for the Prevention and Management of Overweight and Obesity in Childhood and Adolescence in Greece

“…On both occasions, the tape did not compress the skin and was parallel to the floor. Blood pressure was determined by a sphygmomanometer (Comfort 20/40, Visomat, Parapharm, Metamorphosi, Attiki, Greece) and with an appropriate cuff according to the age of the subject [ 14 ].…”

“…The progressively increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity in childhood and adolescence in Greece, and possibly other countries, indicates that our current health policies are not effective, and that further developments in health policy strategies are required. To address this problem in our country, we developed the ‘National e-Health Program for the Prevention and Management of Overweight and Obesity in Childhood and Adolescence’, which provides specific and detailed guidance to all primary health care physicians about the personalized management of overweight or obese children and adolescents [ 13 , 14 ]. The ‘National e-Health Program for the Prevention and Management of Overweight and Obesity in Childhood and Adolescence’ is a National Program available to all Pediatricians and General Practitioners in our country, who—through a web application—register online all children and adolescents nationwide, and receive guidance and detailed advice regarding their management depending on their BMI [ 13 , 15 ].…”