About the program
Obesity in children and adolescents is at an all-time high. Adolescent obesity is likely to persist into adulthood, where it has more severe lifelong impact than adult-onset obesity, including a high risk of chronic comorbidities such as type 2 diabetes (T2D) and chronic kidney disease (CKD), alongside psychological distress.
Younger age at intervention is associated with improved long-term outcomes and a reduction in cardiometabolic risk, however compared with children, adolescents have a 41% lower chance of successful weight loss and maintenance, emphasizing the need for early, proactive, and sustained intervention and management.
The advent of anti-obesity medications (AOMs) has begun to close the gap between lifestyle intervention alone and bariatric surgery in terms of long-term weight management. With some of these AOMs now indicated in the adolescent population, we need to ensure the right people are benefiting from them.
This expert-led program aims to support you with the individualized management of obesity in adolescents through education on:
- the importance of early detection and intervention;
- how to develop tailored management plans including the appropriate incorporation of AOMs; and
- managing the psychological and social factors influencing treatment adherence.
Learning objectives
Following completion of this independent educational program, you will be able to:
- Describe the chronic burden of obesity in adolescent and need for proactive intervention
- Integrate pharmacological therapies alongside lifestyle interventions, where appropriate
- Develop strategies to support individualized management strategies based on patient motivators and barriers
Meet the Faculty
Program Director
Daniel Weghuber
Professor of Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital Salzburg, Paracelsus Medical University, Austria
Daniel Weghuber, MD, is an alumnus of Vienna Medical School. He is Professor of Pediatrics at Paracelsus Medical School (PMU) in Salzburg, Austria. Clinically, he is head of the Department of Pediatrics, being specialized in Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition and Pediatric Endocrinology. He is particularly interested in the treatment of obesity and associated comorbidities including diabetes mellitus, fatty liver and other liver diseases, and phenotypes of preclinical atherosclerosis. Other areas of interest include orthopedic and psychological comorbidities, interdisciplinary diagnostics, mitochondrial genetics, lifestyle and pharmacological treatment as well interdisciplinary as bariatric surgery of children and adolescents with obesity. In addition, he is involved in several training and educational activities of health care professionals on a national and international level in regard to obesity management. He is the Past President of the European Childhood Obesity Group.
Disclosures:
None to declare
Caroline Braet
Clinical psychologist, Behavioural therapist, and Professor at Ghent University, Faculty of Psychology
Prof. Dr. Caroline Braet is a Clinical psychologist, Behavioural therapist, and Professor at Ghent University, Faculty of Psychology. In addition to teaching assignments in the field of developmental psychopathology, she conducts research on the development of childhood obesity, its treatment, and the related problems associated with the problem of overweight in children. In this context, she is also a consultant at the Medical Pediatric Center in De Haan. She has written several books and articles on childhood obesity, including four chapters in a European ebook on childhood obesity (see: https://ebook.ecog-obesity.eu/) (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish and Italian translations), a SCOPE/ECOG learning path with webinars on childhood obesity in different languages, alongside several submitted and one accepted H2020 research project: https://www.ccoproject.eu/). She has acquired >50 granted research projects, resulting in >250 peer reviewed scientific publications. She is member of several European associations, including European Child Obesity Group, European Association for Behavior Therapy, the COST-CA16102 European Network, and the Eating Disorder Research Society. She was awarded as honorary member of the Italian Association for Behavior Therapists (2004) and the Dutch Association for Behavior Therapists (2013).
Disclosures:
None to declare
Michael Piccinini Vallis
Health Behaviour Change Consultant and Associate Professor in Family Medicine at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada
Dr. Vallis is a health psychologist based in Halifax, Canada. He is a Health Behaviour Change Consultant and Associate Professor in Family Medicine at Dalhousie University. He obtained his Ph.D. and M.A from the University of Western Ontario, London, and his B. Sc. From Dalhousie University. His main area of expertise is adult health psychology, with an emphasis on obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular risk and gastroenterology. He spends most of his time training healthcare providers in behaviour change for chronic disease management. He regularly supervises clinical and academic students and is active in research on motivation, behavioural change and adaptation to chronic disease. He consults nationally as well as internationally and is heavily involved in academic publications, journal editing, and clinical practice guidelines. He was on the executive of the Canadian Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Obesity (2020) and lead author of the Psychological and Behavioural Chapter for these new guidelines as well as the 2006 guidelines. As well, he is an author of the Psychology and Mental Health chapter of Diabetes Canada’s Clinical Practice Guidelines (2018, 2013, 2004). He received the 2021 Charles H Best award from Diabetes Canada and was awarded a Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal by the Government of Canada on the recommendation of the Diabetes Canada.
Disclosures:
To be confirmed
Target audience
This program is aimed at an international audience of non-US and non-UK obesity specialists, pediatric endocrinologists and those treating adolescent patients with obesity.
Endorsement
ECOG endorses and supports the continuing medical educational program “Rethinking obesity in adolescents”.
Planning Committee
In addition to the expert faculty Springer Healthcare IME planners and staff include Rachel Goddard, Rebecca Cox and James Hutton. The Planning Committee have no financial relationships to disclose.
All relevant financial relationships of the Faculty have been mitigated.
