ESPE Abstracts

Childhood obesity has emerged as an important public health problem in the worldwide. It is important to follow these cases in multidisciplinary centers at an early age in order to prevent metabolic and psychosocial comorbidities that may develop. Bariatric surgery is a treatment method whose frequency is increasing in adolescent obesity. In the study, the 6-month results of the patients who applied to the obesity center were shared.

Materials-Methods: Cases between the ages of 9-18 and with a body mass index greater than 35 kg/m2 who were referred to the obesity center from the pediatric endocrine polyclinics were included in the study. Cases who used drugs that could cause obesity, had endocrine disease, syndromic obese or monogenic obese were excluded from the study. The physical examination, metabolic data, radiological, cardiac and psychiatric evaluation results of the patients were analyzed.

Results: 62 patients referred to the pediatric obesity center between September 2022 and April 2023 were evaluated. 39 of the cases were girls (66.2%), 23 were boys (37.1%), mean age was 14.5, and mean body mass index was 38.6 kg/m2. Impaired fasting glucose was detected in 2 cases and impaired glucose tolerance in 4 cases (6.45%). Antihypertensive treatment was started in 11 cases (17.7%) due to hypertension. Hepatosteatosis was present in 50 patients (80.6%). In 42% of these cases, stage 1, 36% stage 2, and 22% stage 3 hepatosteatosis. 9 patients (14.5%) had obstructive sleep apnea symptoms and polysomnography was planned. Child psychiatry detected psychiatric disorders in 17 patients. Bariatric surgery was performed in 2 patients. Bariatric surgery was planned for 2 patients. One of the patients who underwent bariatric surgery does not continue to follow up. The other case lost 32.5 kg at the end of the 6th month, and her body mass index decreased from 53.6 to 41.5.

Conclusion: Adolescent obesity is an important risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, orthopedic diseases and psychiatric disorders. Bariatric surgery can be applied in selected cases who do not benefit from lifestyle changes and medical treatments. Increasing awareness of bariatric surgery in adolescence will increase the access of morbidly obese cases to these centers in the early period.