Pediatric Obesity
Course #92020 - $60 -
- Participation Instructions
- Review the course material online or in print.
- Complete the course evaluation.
- Review your Transcript to view and print your Certificate of Completion. Your date of completion will be the date (Pacific Time) the course was electronically submitted for credit, with no exceptions. Partial credit is not available.
Pediatric obesity is a complex chronic disease influenced by genetic, developmental, environmental, and behavioral factors and associated with significant cardiometabolic and psychosocial consequences. This course reviews the epidemiology, pathophysiology, health consequences, assessment, and evidence-based management of pediatric obesity, including lifestyle interventions, anti-obesity medications, and metabolic and bariatric surgery. It also addresses considerations for individualized, long-term treatment and the management of obesity-related and treatment-related challenges in children and adolescents.
This course is designed for physicians, PAs, nurses, and allied healthcare professionals involved in the care of children and adolescents with obesity.
The purpose of this course is to provide healthcare professionals with current, evidence-based information on the prevention, assessment, and management of pediatric obesity, including contributing factors, health consequences, and age-appropriate treatment approaches.
Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:
- Define pediatric obesity as a chronic disease of excessive adiposity and classify pediatric weight status.
- Describe current epidemiological trends in U.S. pediatric obesity and severe obesity.
- Outline the impact of heritability on the development of overweight and obesity in childhood.
- Explain the limitations of the energy balance model in accounting for the pediatric obesity epidemic and compare it with the obesogen hypothesis and exposome paradigm as alternative frameworks for understanding etiology.
- Identify prenatal, perinatal, and early childhood risk factors that contribute to childhood obesity risk.
- Distinguish among monogenic, syndromic, and polygenic forms of pediatric obesity based on clinical presentation, genetic pathways, and features of the leptin-melanocortin system.
- Describe the hypothalamic, peripheral, and metabolic pathophysiologic mechanisms that drive energy dysregu-lation and obesity-related complications in children.
- Identify cardiometabolic complications and clinical presentation of pediatric obesity.
- Identify noncardiometabolic complications of pediatric obesity and their pathophysiologic relationship to excess adiposity.
- Conduct a comprehensive clinical assessment of a child or adolescent with obesity, highlighting the importance of interprofessional collaboration.
- Describe the indications, efficacy, and limitations of lifestyle modification therapy, metabolic and bariatric surgery, and pharmacotherapy in the comprehensive management of pediatric obesity.
- Compare FDA-approved antiobesity medications used in pediatric populations with respect to mechanism of action, approved age ranges, efficacy data, and adverse effect profiles.
- Explain the shared pathophysiology of ADHD, binge eating disorder/loss-of-control eating disorder, and pediatric obesity and impact on pharmacological strategies.
Mark Rose, BS, MA, LP, is a licensed psychologist in the State of Minnesota with a private consulting practice and a medical research analyst with a biomedical communications firm. Earlier healthcare technology assessment work led to medical device and pharmaceutical sector experience in new product development involving cancer ablative devices and pain therapeutics. Along with substantial experience in addiction research, Mr. Rose has contributed to the authorship of numerous papers on CNS, oncology, and other medical disorders. He is the lead author of papers published in peer-reviewed addiction, psychiatry, and pain medicine journals and has written books on prescription opioids and alcoholism published by the Hazelden Foundation. He also serves as an Expert Advisor and Expert Witness to law firms that represent disability claimants or criminal defendants on cases related to chronic pain, psychiatric/substance use disorders, and acute pharmacologic/toxicologic effects. Mr. Rose is on the Board of Directors of the Minneapolis-based International Institute of Anti-Aging Medicine and is a member of several professional organizations.
Contributing faculty, Mark Rose, BS, MA, LP, has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
John M. Leonard, MD
Mary Franks, MSN, APRN, FNP-C
The division planners have disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
Sarah Campbell
The Director of Development and Academic Affairs has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
The purpose of NetCE is to provide challenging curricula to assist healthcare professionals to raise their levels of expertise while fulfilling their continuing education requirements, thereby improving the quality of healthcare.
Our contributing faculty members have taken care to ensure that the information and recommendations are accurate and compatible with the standards generally accepted at the time of publication. The publisher disclaims any liability, loss or damage incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents. Participants are cautioned about the potential risk of using limited knowledge when integrating new techniques into practice.
It is the policy of NetCE not to accept commercial support. Furthermore, commercial interests are prohibited from distributing or providing access to this activity to learners.
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The role of implicit biases on healthcare outcomes has become a concern, as there is some evidence that implicit biases contribute to health disparities, professionals' attitudes toward and interactions with patients, quality of care, diagnoses, and treatment decisions. This may produce differences in help-seeking, diagnoses, and ultimately treatments and interventions. Implicit biases may also unwittingly produce professional behaviors, attitudes, and interactions that reduce patients' trust and comfort with their provider, leading to earlier termination of visits and/or reduced adherence and follow-up. Disadvantaged groups are marginalized in the healthcare system and vulnerable on multiple levels; health professionals' implicit biases can further exacerbate these existing disadvantages.
Interventions or strategies designed to reduce implicit bias may be categorized as change-based or control-based. Change-based interventions focus on reducing or changing cognitive associations underlying implicit biases. These interventions might include challenging stereotypes. Conversely, control-based interventions involve reducing the effects of the implicit bias on the individual's behaviors. These strategies include increasing awareness of biased thoughts and responses. The two types of interventions are not mutually exclusive and may be used synergistically.