Effectiveness of Weight Loss School
This study demonstrated low adherence of children and their parents to obesity treatment and administration of liraglutide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist (Saxenda) can be the most promising.
Abstract
Objective. To evaluate the effectiveness of Weight Loss School for children aged 10–17 years. Patients and methods. Between 2019 and 2021, we examined 853 children aged 10 to 17 years with exogenous constitutional obesity. All children were offered to attend Weight Loss School. One hundred and seventy-five children (20.5%) started the course and 110 of them (65%) completed it. The School lasted for 6 months and included 5 classes on nutrition and physical activity, physiotherapy, and monthly examination by an endocrinologist. Results. A total of 87% of children reported reduced appetite after the completion of the program. A decrease in median ΔSDS BMI by 0.2 confirmed clinically significant weight loss. Interviewing of participants 6 months following program completion showed that only 46.4% of children managed to maintain their body weight or continue weight loss, whereas 63.6% of children resumed gaining weight. The most common reasons for non-adhering to recommendations included uncontrollable hunger and difficulty of modifying a habitual lifestyle with no external control by a doctor. Conclusion. Our study demonstrated low adherence of children and their parents to obesity treatment. Nutrition education is a necessary component of obesity treatment; however, it has short-term effectiveness. In addition to patient education, administration of liraglutide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist (Saxenda), can be the most promising. GLP-1 affects anorexigenic and orexigenic systems of the hypothalamus and decreases appetite by slowing gastric emptying and gastrointestinal motility. Key words: obesity, weight loss school, eating disorder, liraglutide.