(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) After decades of saying that radical decisions to make fat kids thinner should be made only after children go through puberty to see if bodies normalize, the American Academy of Pediatrics now says that it is okay to put children through the “early and aggressive” treatment — a surgical or medical intervention.
The organization suddenly thinks that obese children can now undergo surgery at the age of 12, or pump themselves with medical drugs at the age of 13 to help them lose weight, according to Timcast.
“Long stigmatized as a reversible consequence of personal choices, obesity has complex genetic, physiologic, socioeconomic and environmental contributors,” the AAP said in its new guidance.
“Because obesity is a chronic disease with escalating effects over time, a life course approach to identification and treatment should begin as early as possible and continue longitudinally through childhood, adolescence and young adulthood, with transition into adult care,” the guidance stated.
In 15 years, this is the first time the AAP has updated its guidance when it comes to childhood obesity.
“Waiting doesn’t work,” Dr. Ihuoma Eneli, the co-author of the new guidance, said. “What we see is a continuation of weight gain and the likelihood that they’ll have (obesity) in adulthood.”
Other lifestyles interventions, like diet and exercise, will be offered.
The organization stated that 14.4 million American children and teenagers are considered to be obese.
“… weight loss pharmacotherapy and metabolic bariatric surgery are evidence-based obesity treatment modalities that should be available and offered to patients” because of the “complex nature of obesity management,” according to the AAP’s research.
The organization also claimed that health insurance should cover such surgeries that, according to the AAP itself, results in 15% of minors experiencing complications, such as postoperative nausea and dehydration, after a surgery and about 8% of patients saying that they experienced major complications within 30 days of the surgery.
