Management of children with obesity at local hospital and impact of COVID-19 pandemic

Takeshi Ninchoji; Yuya Aoto; Natsuki Momo; Jun Maruyama; Hiroaki Ioi; Hayato Uchida

doi:10.3389/fped.2023.1228681

Management of children with obesity at local hospital and impact of COVID-19 pandemic

Front Pediatr. 2023 Aug 10:11:1228681. doi: 10.3389/fped.2023.1228681. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Takeshi Ninchoji¹, Yuya Aoto¹, Natsuki Momo¹, Jun Maruyama¹, Hiroaki Ioi², Hayato Uchida³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Paediatrics, Harima Himeji General Medical Centre, Himeji, Japan.
² Ioi Pediatrics Clinic, Himeji, Japan.
³ School of Human Science and Environment, University of Hyogo, Himeji, Japan.

Abstract

This study investigated the status of children with obesity before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, and the effects of lifestyle guidance on weight loss among children in Japan. We analysed the data of patients who visited our hospital after check-ups for obesity and evaluated the efficacy of lifestyle guidance. The patients were divided into groups A, B, and C (year 2011, 2019, and 2021, respectively). There were no differences in body weight, obesity index (OI), blood pressure, or alanine transaminase (ALT) levels between the groups; however, aspartate transaminase (AST) level was the highest in Group C. In Group C, only OI increased between the primary and secondary screenings; however, OI and body mass index (BMI) improved during the second screening and more children in the weight loss group followed lifestyle guidance. OI/BMI did not change over the past decade; however, short-term weight gain was significant owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, and simple guidance was effective in reducing weight. Future challenges include identifying methods to achieve long-term weight loss.

Keywords: COVID-19; body mass index; children; obesity index; obesity screening.