The role of the family in the treatment of obesity in children. Clinical case

Abstract

According to recent studies, obesity is associated with genetic variations, iatrogenic conditions, viruses, environmental and behavioral factors. Currently, the treatment of childhood obesity is mainly aimed at limiting energy consumption by changing the child’s lifestyle. Families bear the main social responsibility for raising and educating children. Family sports are an addition to school and play an indispensable role. The object of family sports intervention is not only children, but also parents. In addition, parents’ behavior has a lot of influence on the formation of the views of teenagers. Eating habits and attitudes towards one’s own nutrition are also formed thanks to parental example. This article highlights a clinical example of managing a family with a teenage boy diagnosed with obesity. Diet and physical activity recommendations were given to the patient and his parents. Given that there is already a history of interventions to reduce body mass and the patient did not get the desired result, we suggested to focus on modifying the life of not only the patient, but also the family. Due to a comprehensive approach to lifestyle modification of the whole family, we obtained a positive result, namely: the patient reduced his body weight by 20.5 kg during the year of observation. In addition, a decrease in glycated hemoglobin from 6.0 to 5.48 % was observed, which is a good prognostic criterion for the further possible development of diabetes. The patient himself noted that he had improved relationships in the family and with peers.