Drug Therapy of Childhood Obesity

Abstract

Over the last decades obesity prevalence among children and adolescents has increased dramatically and coincidentally the well-established comorbidities associated with the excess body weight have become a major health challenge worldwide. Despite intensive lifestyle modifications, patients severely obese might warrant adjunctive interventions. Although, antiobesity pharmacotherapy is emerging as a promising adjunctive strategy for adults who fail to respond to behavioral strategies, most of agents are not licensed for the treatment of obesity in children and adolescents. The aim of this narrative review is to discuss possible mechanisms by which drugs lead to weight loss and to summarize data concerning FDA-approved anti-obesity focusing on relatively small body of evidence concerning pharmacological options for managing pediatric obesity. Lifestyle and behavioral interventions remain the mainstream of the obesity treatment in children, but adjunctive pharmacotherapy may be beneficial in some patients. Although well-designed clinical trials are needed to properly evaluate safety and efficacy of anti-obesity drugs in children and adolescents, pediatricians dealing with obesity should know what drugs are available. Early identification, during childhood, of individuals who most likely respond favorably to a specific anti-obesity agent will be possibly more efficacious in addressing the global obesity epidemic, than pharmacotherapies started in older ages.