Management of the child with obesity: Role and development of new medications

Abstract

Childhood obesity continues to be a major health problem worldwide with the consequent associated comorbidities becoming apparent at very early ages and increasing throughout life. Although the prevention of obesity is essential, it is no less true that its treatment should be considered when prevention has failed and in specific cases of obesity. The treatment of obesity in children and adolescents continues to be based on a program for the reorganization of eating habits, physical activity, and eating behavior. Nevertheless, as a result of the enormous amount of investigation carried out in the past decade in search of efficient treatments for obesity, new drugs are gradually becoming available, including liraglutide, semaglutide, setmelanotide and phentermine/topiramate, among others. Although the treatments mentioned are now available, they are not applicable and/or accessible for every patient and we are all learning about the approach to using these new treatments and it is still early to interpret their effectiveness in the medium and long term. Furthermore, whether the use of these medications, once started, should be for life, remains to be clarified. Regarding bariatric surgery in children and adolescents, the available data are limited with scarce data regarding the long-term results. Thus, there have been important advances in the treatment of childhood obesity, but there are still much to be done.