One in three parents struggles to recognize their child's obesity. This is what emerges mainly from the new data from the international ACTION TEENS study, conducted in ten countries on various continents, including Italy, and presented on May 6 by Novo Nordisk at the European Congress on Obesity 2022.
The primary objective of the study, which involved approximately 13,000 people, including over 5,000 children and adolescents with obesity, 5,400 parents and caregiver, and more than 2,000 healthcare workers, was to identify perceptions, attitudes, behaviors and barriers to obesity treatment and understand how these factors influence its management.
The new data highlights that Pediatric obesity has a significant impact on the life expectancy of those affected: in fact, the risk of premature death triples in children with obesity compared to children who have a normal body mass index (BMI).
Parents of children with obesity struggle to recognize it and they often underestimate the severity of the disease, convincing themselves that it will be resolved with growth, an expectation that is absolutely not supported by scientific evidence.
Unfortunately, however, underestimating this disease in children and adolescents leads to complications at a young age, with the development of chronic diseases such as mental health problems, heart conditions, type 2 diabetes, as well as some cancers and skeletal and joint problems.
Finally, the study highlights the need to improve i training courses for doctors and healthcare workers in the management and treatment of obesity as a chronic disease. Second the data collected shows, in fact, that 87 percent believe they not having had adequate training on this disease.
"Obesity is a chronic disease that tends to recur and over time can become complicated with the development of other diseases, but if treated with seriousness, time, dedication and commitment it can be cured - explained Claudio Maffeis, Past President of the Italian Society of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetology - The most recent survey data in Italy Watch out for your health they tell us that unfortunately we are among the European countries with the highest values of overweight and obesity in the school-age population, it appears in fact that the percentage of overweight children is 20.4 percent and of children with obesity is 9.4 percent, including the severely obese who represent 2.4 percent".
Photo by Milan from Pexels.com
