The Clinical Treatment of Childhood Obesity

With the rising prevalence of childhood obesity, pediatricians are increasingly called upon to treat clinically overweight children. The primary treatment options are behavioral lifestyle modification, pharmacotherapy, and surgery. The cornerstone of childhood obesity treatment is lifestyle modification and has been shown to be effective in improving the severity of overweight and obesity. Several guidelines discuss appropriate methods for lifestyle modification in overweight and obese children. This review will summarize three recent guidelines/recommendations (released by the Scottish Intercollegiate Network, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the United Kingdom National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) and describe by way of example, a current child obesity treatment program in the United States (Duke University Medical Center). Finally, evidence for pharmacologic and surgical treatment options will also be discussed, which can be valuable treatment options for select patients.