Paediatrician calls for more effective treatment for obese children
March 5, 2009
As ever the tabloid press jumped on the bandwagon with headlines like "Fat Children should have gastric bands (Mondays Mail). Most papers including broadsheets saw his paper as focussing on the need for more surgery.A closer examination reveals that in following up children with type 2 diabetes he found that few achieved weight loss sufficient to improve their diabetes. He called for an exploration of the the evidence based treatments available and clearly bariatric surgery is one of he tools available. NICE has already issued guidance that surgery may be considered in children who have achieved or are near maturity.