title: Medical and non-medical complications among children and adolescents with excessive body weight.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The burden of disease from childhood obesity is considerable worldwide, as it is associated with several co-morbidities, such as dyslipidemia, hypertension, type 2 diabetes (T2DM), orthopedic and psychosocial problems. We aimed at determining the prevalence of these complications in a population of children and adolescents with body weight excess.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a cohort study including 774 new patients (1.7 - 17.9 yrs, mean 11.1 ± 3.0) attending a pediatric obesity care center. We assessed personal and family medical histories, physical examination, systemic blood pressure, biochemical screening tests.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that the great majority of the children suffered from at least one medical complication. Orthopedic pathologies were the most frequent (54%), followed by metabolic (42%) and cardiovascular disturbances (31%). However, non-medical conditions related to well-being, such as bullying, psychological complaints, shortness of breath or abnormal sleeping patterns, were present in the vast majority of the children (79.4%). Family history of dyslipidemia tends to correlate with the child's lipids disturbance (p = .053), and ischemic events or T2DM were correlated with cardiovascular risk factors present in the child (p = .046; p = .038, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The vast majority of obese children suffer from medical and non-medical co-morbidities which must be actively screened. A positive family history for cardiovascular diseases or T2DM should be warning signs to perform further complementary tests. Furthermore, well-being related-complaints should not be underestimated as they were extremely frequent.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric sports medicine and obesity care program, Division of pediatric specialties, Department of Child and Adolescent, University Hospitals of Geneva and University of Geneva, 6, rue Willy-Donzé, 1211 Geneva 14, Geneva, Switzerland. albane.maggio@hcuge.ch.
authors.forename: Albane B R
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Maggio
authors.forename: Xavier E
authors.initials: XE
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Saunders Gasser
authors.forename: Claudine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gal-Duding
authors.forename: Maurice
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Beghetti
authors.forename: Nathalie J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Farpour-Lambert
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chamay-Weber
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001795:Blood Pressure Determination; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008487:Medical History Taking; D016017:Odds Ratio; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D010808:Physical Examination; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers