Stationäre Adipositastherapie bei adipösen Kindern und Jugendlichen - Interventionsergebnisse und Follow-up nach sechs Monaten

Purpose: Inpatient treatment programs are used mainly in children and adolescents with severe obesity and related comorbidities. The sustained benefit of the different intervention strategies is not well documented. Material and Methods: Age, standard deviation score of body mass index (SDS-BMI), waist circumference, and physical activity were analysed at the beginning (U1), at the end of inpatient period (U2; after 5.3±0.9 weeks), and 6 months follow-up (U3) in 131 obese (BMI >97th percentile) children and adolescents (14.0±2.2 years; BMI 34.2±6.2 kg/m2, 47 boys, 84 girls). The inpatient obesity program was based on dietary changes, extensive physical exercise, and behaviour therapy. Results: The BMI-SDS was reduced from 2.7±0.5 to 2.2±0.6 in boys (p<0.001) and from 2.8±0.5 to 2.4±0.6 in girls (p<0.001) after the inpatient therapy. The children significantly improved their waist circumference while the inpatient therapy (boys: U1: 110.8±14.7 cm; U2: 101.5±12.8 cm; p<0.001; girls: U1: 107.4±14.5 cm; U2: 102.4±13.6 cm; p<0.001). After 6 months, an additional reduction of BMISDS (-0.2; p<0.001) and waist circumference (-5 cm; p<0,001) was only measured for boys (n=24). The physical activity (>60 minutes/day) increased in boys from 2 to 4 days/week (p=0.005) and remained unchanged in girls after 6 months. Conclusion: A multidisciplinary inpatient obesity therapy induced a significant weight loss and decrease in waist circumference in obese children and adolescents. An extended followup is necessary to verify the long-term effects.