A new statement from the American Heart Association (AMA) claims that about 5 percent of U.S. teens and children are severely obese, putting them at a higher risk for developing premature heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Severe obesity, the organization writes, is a newly defined health risk.
Limited treatment options are available for severely obese children, the American Heart Association writes in a new study published in the journal Circulation. It is well known that obesity is linked to cardiovascular issues and diabetes, but when kids are involved, things become more complicated, as most standard weight loss options are"insufficient for them," according to the AMA.
High blood pressure, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and artherosclerosis, disease that clogs the arteries, are just some of the illnesses severely obese kids are faced with.
"Severe obesity in young people has grave health consequences," Aaron Kelly, Ph.D., lead author of the statement and a researcher at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis, said in a statement that went along with the report, adding that it's a "much more serious childhood disease than obesity."
And aggressive treatment options such as Bariatric (lap-band) surgery are not necessarily an option for kids. Doctors recommend gradual lifestyle changes as opposed to possibly life-threatening surgeries.
"The step from lifestyle change and medication to surgery is unacceptably large because weight loss surgery isn't appropriate for or available to all severely obese children," Kelly said. Instead, the AMA recommends funding additional research to discover better medical devices and treatment options for severely obese children and teens, including diet and exercise programs, as the new study calls severe obesity "a chronic disease requiring ongoing care and management."
The AMA defines severe obesity in children over the age of 2 as having a Body Mass Index (BMI) "at least 20 percent higher than the 95th percentile for their gender and age, or a BMI score of 35 or higher." For instance, a 7-year old girl with an average height would be considered severely obese if she weighed around 75 pounds, as would a 13-year old boy of average height weighing that of a grown man, or 160 pounds.
