Severe childhood obesity matters

To date, obesity represents a major public health challenge. Obesity is at any age a concern but in pediatric populations it is particularly alarming because of its immediate biomedical and psychosocial consequences and the expectation that it will lead to an increase in morbidity and mortality and to social disadvantages later in life. Obesity is now the most common childhood disorder in the developed world, with severe obesity as the fastest-growing subcategory. In 2009, the prevalence of severe obesity in the Netherlands in children of Dutch origin was 0.59% in boys and 0.53% in girls. Severe obesity can cause immediate and potentially irreversible consequences, even in the very young. Cases of obesity-related type 2 diabetes, have been described in children as young as 5 years of age.
In this thesis the results of several studies are presented describing cohorts of severely obese children and adolescents treated in the Childhood Obesity Centre Heideheuvel, part of Behandelcentrum Heideheuvel, Hilversum, the Netherlands.