Overweight and Obesity in Children and Adolescents

Abstract

Obesity among children, adolescents and adults has emerged as one of the most serious public health concerns in the 21st century. The worldwide prevalence of childhood obesity has increased remarkably over the past 3 decades. The growing prevalence of childhood obesity has also led to appearance of obesity-related comorbid disease entities at an early age. Childhood obesity can adversely affect nearly every organ system and often causes serious consequences, including hypertension, dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, dysglycemia, fatty liver disease and psychosocial complications. It is also a major contributor to increasing healthcare expenditures. For all these reasons, it is important to prevent childhood obesity as well as to identify overweight and obese children at an early stage so they can begin treatment and attain and maintain a healthy weight. At present, pharmacotherapy options for treatment of pediatric obesity are very limited. Therefore, establishing a comprehensive management program that emphasizes appropriate nutrition, exercise and behavioral modification is crucial. The physician’s role should expand beyond the clinical setting to the community to serve as a role model and to advocate for prevention and early treatment of obesity.

The Epidemic of Obesity and Poor Physical Activity Participation: Will We Ever See a Change?

“…Obesity during childhood/adolescence drastically increases the probability of obesity in adulthood [13,14]. Early-onset obesity is setting children up for a lifelong risk of obesity-associated complications, as it is now understood that early markers of adult cardiovascular disease begin in childhood [15].Obesity is associated with disorders of almost every system in the body [16]. For example, adults with obesity have increased incidence of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high cholesterol, and hypertension [17][18][19].…”

“…Obesity is associated with disorders of almost every system in the body [16]. For example, adults with obesity have increased incidence of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high cholesterol, and hypertension [17][18][19].…”

“…For example, adults with obesity have increased incidence of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high cholesterol, and hypertension [17][18][19]. Childhood obesity is also associated with hypertension, insulin resistance, and liver disease, among others [16]. In a large cohort study of over 8500 nine-year-old Irish children, a staggering 11.1% of the population reported having a chronic illness that impaired daily living [20].…”

Teaching Strategies to Raise Awareness of Non-Communicable Diseases in Secondary Schools in Brunei Darussalam

“…The increase in the number of overweight and obese children is indeed a major concern, because in small countries like Brunei Darussalam, 10% represents a significant proportion of the total population. Moreover, research has found that obesity at a young age is likely to persist into adulthood, which could lead to other chronic diseases (Güngör, 2014).…”

Evaluation of metabolic syndrome frequency and its components in children with obesity

“…prevelansı özellikle son 3 dekatta önemli ölçüde artmıştır (1,2) . Obezite çocukluk çağında ilk 1 yaşta, yaşamın 5.-6. yılında ve ergenlik döneminde belirgin bir artış göstermektedir.…”