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Summary: Importance: The effectiveness of anti‐obesity medications for children and adolescents is unclear. Objective: To update the evidence on the benefits and harms of anti‐obesity medication. Data Sources: Cochrane CENTRAL, MEDLINE, ClinicalTrials.gov and WHO ICTRP (1/1/16–17/3/23). Study Selection: Randomized controlled trials ≥6 months in people <19 years living with obesity. Data Extraction and Synthesis: Screening, data extraction and quality assessment conducted in duplicate, independently. Main Outcomes and Measures: Body mass index (BMI): 95th percentile BMI, adverse events and quality of life. Results: Thirty‐five trials (N = 4331), follow‐up: 6–24 months; age: 8.8–16.3 years; BMI: 26.2–41.7 kg/m2. Moderate certainty evidence demonstrated a −1.71 (95% confidence interval [CI]: −2.27 to −1.14)‐unit BMI reduction, ranging from −0.8 to −5.9 units between individual drugs with semaglutide producing the largest reduction of −5.88 kg/m2 (95% CI: −6.99 to −4.77, N = 201). Drug type explained ~44% of heterogeneity. Low certainty evidence demonstrated reduction in 95th percentile BMI: −11.88 percentage points (95% CI: −18.43 to −5.30, N = 668). Serious adverse events and study discontinuation due to adverse events did not differ between medications and comparators, but medication dose adjustments were higher compared to comparator (10.6% vs 1.7%; RR = 3.74 [95% CI: 1.51 to 9.26], I2 = 15%), regardless of approval status. There was a trend towards improved quality of life. Evidence gaps exist for children, psychosocial outcomes, comorbidities and weight loss maintenance. Conclusions and Relevance: Anti‐obesity medications in addition to behaviour change improve BMI but may require dose adjustment, with 1 in 100 adolescents experiencing a serious adverse event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: BMI or BMI-standardized deviation score (SDS) in children and adolescents is still the standard for weight classification. [BMJ. 2019;366:4293] developed a formula to calculate body fat percentage (%BF) based on age, sex, height, weight, and ethnicity. Using data from the German/Austrian APV registry, we investigated whether the calculated %BF is superior to BMI-SDS in predicting arterial hypertension, dyslipidaemia, and impaired glucose metabolism. Methods: 94,586 children and adolescents were included (12.5 years, 48.3% male). Parental birth country (BC) was used to depict ethnicity (15.8% migration background); 95.67% were assigned to the ethnicity "white." %BF was calculated based on the Hudda formula. The relationship between BMI-SDS or %BF quartiles and outcome variables was investigated by logistic regression models, adjusted for age, sex, and migration background. Vuong test was applied to analyse predictive power. Results: 58.4% had arterial hypertension, 33.5% had dyslipidaemia, and 11.6% had impaired glucose metabolism. Boys were significantly more often affected, although girls had higher calculated %BF (each p < 0.05). After adjustment, both models revealed significant differences between the quartiles (all p < 0.001). The predictive power of BMI-SDS was superior to %BF for all three comorbidities (all p < 0.05). Discussion: The prediction of cardiometabolic comorbidities by calculated %BF was not superior to BMI-SDS. This formula developed in a British population may not be suitable for a central European population, which is applicable to this possibly less heterogeneous collective. Additional parameters, especially puberty status, should be taken into account. However, objective determinations such as bioimpedance analysis may possibly be superior to assess fat mass and cardiometabolic risk than calculated %BF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obesity is a chronic disease, in which treatment outcomes are highly dependent on patient and family adherence to behavioural recommendations. The role of healthy eating, physical activity, medication adherence as well as adherence to pre- and post-bariatric surgery protocols are of utmost importance for long-term treatment outcomes. Even the best interventions are not likely to reach their maximum benefit without significant levels of adherence on the part of the individual and family. Traditionally, the annual meeting of the European Childhood Obesity Group (ECOG) includes an expert workshop addressing one specific topic within the field of childhood obesity. During the 30th annual meeting, hosted by the University of Pécs, Hungary, as a virtual meeting, "adherence to treatment recommendations in obesity as a chronic disease" was addressed. The discussions that developed during the workshop are summarized in the following article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]