A Three-year Behavioral Treatment of Obese Children

The prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents has reached epidemic proportions worldwide. Among Swedish 10-year old children 15-20% are overweight and 3-5% are obese. The probability that an obese child becomes an obese adult is very high. This chronic disease requires lifetime treatment. The standard treatment of childhood obesity involves behavioural interventions focused on eating habits and physical activity. Studies often include small study samples, the absence of control groups and short treatments times. Several long-term follow-up studies of shorter interventions are available. The results from these studies are disappointing since the number of children who are "cured" i.e., have become non-obese is low. Thus, effective treatments are currently lacking.The National Childhood Obesity Center treats children in a University hospital setting. The children are enrolled from the catchment areas of the hospital as well as the rest of Sweden. Treatment alternatives include behavioural treatment (individual and group), low and very low calorie diet, pharmacological and surgical treatment. Patients treated with surgical and pharmacological methods safety is ensured using these treatments exclusively in controlled studies. The clinic was the first in Sweden with this wide range of treatment options. BORIS is a national health care quality register for childhood obesity, supervised by the Swedish Association of Local Authority and Regions.