ESPE Abstracts

Background: Childhood obesity has fast become one of the greatest challenges faced by public health. Recent NHS figures (2018) state over one fifth of all year 6 students in the UK were living with obesity. This has consequences for health-care resources, but more importantly affects young people’s physical and mental wellbeing. Liraglutide (Saxenda), a glucagon-like peptide-1 agonist, has been proven to reduce blood glucose, markers of adiposity and suppress appetite to enable weight loss. Glucagon-like peptide-1 agonists have been widely used in the management of diabetes however they have also been effective in aiding weight loss in people living with obesity.

Method: We identified 15 young people aged between 12-17 years living with obesity who have been prescribed Liraglutide for weight loss in the West Yorkshire Complications of Excess Weight (CEW) Clinic. We asked them to complete a purpose-designed questionnaire about their experience of using the medication and recorded other common themes in their PEDSQoL and their clinical notes. We also analysed clinical data bases for these 15 individuals. Quantitative data was analysed using Microsoft Excel, version, and actual and percentage changes in BMI and weight on bar charts. Descriptive statistics (mean and median BMI and weight change) were calculated.

Results: Patients who were unable to tolerate Liraglutide’s side effects or did not meet a 4% decrease in BMI by the 16 week review discontinued treatment (six). Nine patients continued Liraglutide. All patients attended their 16 week review where a mean reduction in BMI of –2.4 kg/m2 (median –3.1 kg/m2) and a mean reduction in weight of –5.72 kg (median –7.95 kg) was found. Seven patients had their BMI and weight recorded from 38 weeks to 52 weeks. Of these seven, mean reduction in BMI was –3.4 kg/m2 (median –4.4 kg/m2) and reduction in weight was –9.61 kg (median –9.45 kg). For qualitative data, significant results include the common incidence of side effects, particularly gastrointestinal. Key recurring themes within the questionnaire included improvement in self-image and confidence, increased hunger and weight gain following cessation of treatment was also noted.

Conclusions: Liraglutide is effective in helping young people living with obesity to lose weight and therefore to improve individuals short and long term physical and mental health outcomes, as well as bettering public health. There are however side effects to be aware of and further research on a larger, more diverse population is needed to evaluate and target these further.