Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, 06591, Korea.
Institute of Catholic Ubiquitous Health Care, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, 06591, Korea.
Front Med. 2018 Dec;12(6):658-666. doi: 10.1007/s11684-018-0640-1. Epub 2018 Oct 2.
The prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents (aged 2-18 years) has increased rapidly, with more than 100 million affected in 2015. Moreover, the epidemic of obesity in this population has been an important public health problem in developed and developing countries for the following reasons. Childhood and adolescent obesity tracks adulthood obesity and has been implicated in many chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, childhood and adolescent obesity is linked to adulthood mortality and premature death. Although an imbalance between caloric intake and physical activity is a principal cause of childhood and adolescent obesity, environmental factors are exclusively important for development of obesity among children and adolescents. In addition to genetic and biological factors, socioenvironmental factors, including family, school, community, and national policies, can play a crucial role. The complexity of risk factors for developing obesity among children and adolescents leads to difficulty in treatment for this population. Many interventional trials for childhood and adolescent obesity have been proven ineffective. Therefore, early identification and prevention is the key to control the global epidemic of obesity. Given that the proportion of overweight children and adolescents is far greater than that of obesity, an effective prevention strategy is to focus on overweight youth, who are at high risk for developing obesity. Multifaceted, comprehensive strategies involving behavioral, psychological, and environmental risk factors must also be developed to prevent obesity among children and adolescents.
儿童和青少年（2-18 岁）的肥胖患病率迅速增加，2015 年受影响的人数超过 1 亿。此外，由于以下原因，该人群的肥胖流行已成为发达国家和发展中国家的一个重要公共卫生问题。儿童和青少年肥胖会持续到成年肥胖，并与许多慢性疾病有关，包括 2 型糖尿病、高血压和心血管疾病。此外，儿童和青少年肥胖与成年期死亡率和过早死亡有关。尽管热量摄入和体力活动之间的不平衡是儿童和青少年肥胖的主要原因，但环境因素对儿童和青少年肥胖的发展尤为重要。除了遗传和生物学因素外，社会环境因素，包括家庭、学校、社区和国家政策，也可以发挥关键作用。儿童和青少年肥胖的危险因素的复杂性导致该人群的治疗困难。许多针对儿童和青少年肥胖的干预试验已被证明无效。因此，早期识别和预防是控制肥胖全球流行的关键。鉴于超重儿童和青少年的比例远远大于肥胖儿童和青少年，因此有效的预防策略是关注有发展肥胖风险的超重青少年。还必须制定涉及行为、心理和环境风险因素的多方面、综合的策略，以预防儿童和青少年肥胖。
