Childhood obesity cause orthopedic problems (genu valgum), breathing (apnea) and metabolic (cholesterol) in addition to psychological disorders.

–prevention during childhood is fundamental to prevent adult to develop associated chronic diseases (diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular, cancer)

-Spain is the second country in the European Union with greater numbers of children overweight

Barcelona, 2011-December according to the latest survey of overweight and obesity prevalence child fact in Spain with children between 6 and 9 years, excess weight in the population child Spanish has stabilized in the last ten years. But still found to be 26% overweight and 19% of obesity in our child population, figure which puts us in the second country in the European Union with the highest prevalence, behind Italy. This study concludes that excess weight is a widespread health problem in childhood and which affects the most disadvantaged social classes. Also predicts the burden of obesity which we will suffer in the future and associated chronic diseases (diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular, cancer).

The DRA. Mª Antonia Caravaca, Pediatric endocrinóloga of Pediatrics of USP Dexeus, points out that are facing a serious public health problem that must be approached from all areas of society, but we are focusing on the health, pediatricians and in particular those of primary health care have a great opportunity to help improve this situation from the preventive point of view. Basically because we know families and we are aware of what are the risk: we know that obesity of parents related to their children from 3 years of life; a low socio-economic level is also a predisposing in our society and that an ethnicity could favour the risk of obesity. Also, we know children are born and we also know to identify what are the risk: first the newborn infants with low birth weight infants are more likely to central obesity in adulthood associated with a metabolic syndrome (hypertension, dislipemias)as well as one newborn macrosoma (greater than 4 kilos) is more likely to be an obese child. Secondly, children that rapidly increasing weight, especially at early ages, what we call the adipose rebound than if occurs before age 5 are associated with an increased risk of future obesity ”.

One of the preventive measures to avoid children being overweight is strengthening, wherever possible, breastfeeding, since that seems to have a protective effect of obesity in childhood. Second, advising the family healthy lifestyles, promoting a healthy diet with daily consumption of 5 servings of fruits, vegetables, vegetables and decreasing of sugary products, pastries, cold meats or sugary drinks. Third, increasing physical activity moderated, as walking an hour a day or practice sports three times a week and decreasing the number of hours of television, computer and video games ” declared the DRA. Caravaca.

With these prevention measures, could be that the child population in general and the risk in particular, not reached presented sobrepeso-obesidad figures and avoiding that obese children were teenagers (probability 20-50%) or adults (probability 40-70%) obese. According to the DRA. Caravaca, in the short term, we will improve the psychological and social consequences that suffer more often than the child population with normopeso; orthopedic problems such as genu valgum; the breathing as sleep apneas and the metabolic as LDL-cholesterol levels increase or the increase in the risk for disorders of the metabolism of glucose.

In the long term would improve their quality of life because they would not become obese adults with all the consequences that this implies for the patient (cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, coronary calcifications, lipid abnormalities or glucémicas and cancer) and for society, as a time established the obesity, its treatment is difficult and the economic cost of morbidity which carries very high ”.

By all this, we must insist on prevention during childhood so that this generation is not the first in the history of humanity whose life expectancy is less than its predecessors.

About USP hospital

Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Madrid, USP hospital is the first hospital private group in the Spanish market. Currently, USP hospital boasts a network of 12 hospitals, 23 health centres and 4,000 doctors annually serving more than two million patients. In 2010 the company recorded 331.494 clinical stays, 118.931 surgery, 11.202 births and 424.511 er.