Severe obesity for 100 thousand children, pediatricians: "It steals 15 years of life"

In Italy, more than 100,000 children and adolescents under 17 live with a type of obesity that is not only early and persistent but also particularly dangerous: it is called severe obesity. The alarm is being raised, on the occasion of the 80th national congress , by the Italian Society of Pediatrics , which focuses on the time factor: intervening early allows us to avoid the problem becoming chronic.

“Severe obesity in developmental age is associated with very serious risks. Even in the short term we are talking about hypertension, type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, fatty liver, but also anxiety, social isolation, low self-esteem. And children who suffer from it risk a reduction in life expectancy of even more than 15 years compared to their normal-weight peers,” explains Claudio Maffeis, Full Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Verona. A fact that worries the Italian Society of Pediatrics (SIP), which relaunches the urgency of promptly recognizing and treating this condition, still too often underestimated.

The simplest risk indicator to observe for severe obesity is the waist/height ratio : if the waist circumference exceeds half the height, it is already a warning. According to data from the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 19% of children aged 8-9 years in our country are overweight, 9.8% are obese and 2.6% are severely obese . The problem tends to increase as the years go by and varies by region. For example, in Campania 24.6% are overweight, 12.6% are obese, and 6% are severely obese. "To prevent it from turning into a chronic disease, this condition, which is too often underestimated, must be recognized and treated promptly," explains Maffeis.

Lifestyle interventions , as demonstrated by data presented at the ongoing conference in Naples, can reduce the body fat index in over 50% of children between 6 and 9 years old. But they have almost no effect on adolescents: only 2% of children between 14 and 16 years old respond positively.

1. It affects over 100,000 minors in Italy . According to ISS data, 2.6% of children between 8 and 9 years old have obesity classified as severe. 2. The risks are both physical and psychological. Children with severe obesity can develop hypertension, type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, fatty liver, but also anxiety, isolation and low self-esteem.

3. The earlier you intervene, the better. Between the ages of 6 and 9, a reduction in BMI can be achieved in more than half of cases:

4. Pay attention to your waistline. Your waist-to-height ratio is a simple indicator: if your belly is more than half your height,

5. Where diet and exercise are not enough. After 12 years of age, in the most complex cases, there are approved pharmacological therapies that must be prescribed in specialized pediatric centers.