Weighing up the options: childhood intervention to tackle obesity

Obesity is rising in prevalence throughout the population, including in children. In the UK, one in seven children aged 2 to 15 live with obesity. Obesity can begin very early, with 12% of toddlers and primary school aged children affected. Childhood obesity is associated with higher blood pressure and increases in cardiovascular risk in adulthood 1. Since cardiovascular disease causes a quarter of all deaths and costs the economy £29 billion per year in the UK, childhood obesity has a significant impact on population health of growing concern. Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists like liraglutide and semaglutide are effective treatments for weight loss in adults with obesity and have several cardiovascular benefits. In this issue of Pediatric Research, Romariz et al. 2 show that GLP-1 agonists are also effective for treating obesity in children, in a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.