Approximately 17% of children and adolescents in the US aged 2 to 19 years are obese. Almost 32% of children and adolescents are either overweight or obese, and the proportion of children with severe obesity continues to rise.¹ Obesity in childhood increases the risk of having obesity as an adult and children with obesity are about 5 times more likely to have obesity as adults than children without obesity.² The immediate consequences of childhood obesity include increased incidence of psychological issues, asthma, obstructive sleep apnea, orthopedic problems, high blood pressure, elevated lipid levels, and insulin resistance. The long-term consequences include an increased likelihood of adult obesity and the consequences thereof. It is important to understand that the interventions recommended in this guideline are behavioral in nature and have at least 26 contact hours over a year. Simply informing a child and parent to diet and exercise is not enough; return visits must be scheduled in order to reinforce the message, utilize a team-based approach, and, when when patients are willing, refer them a comprehensive multimodal behavioral change program. —Neil Skolnik, MD

1. Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Kit BK, Flegal KM. Prevalence of childhood and adult obesity in the United States, 2011-2012. JAMA. 2014;311(8): 806-814. doi:10.1001/jama.2014.732.
2. Simmonds M, Burch J, Llewellyn A, et al. The use of measures of obesity in childhood for predicting obesity and the development of obesity-related diseases in adulthood: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Health Technol Assess. 2015;19(43):1-336. doi:10.3310/hta19430.