UK Guidelines Recommend Anti-Obesity Drugs and Surgery for Children as Young as 12

Health watchdog the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has published guidelines recommending that children as young as 12 should be given anti-obesity drugs and stomach-stapling surgery as part of a package to tackle the obesity epidemic. The guidelines also recommend that severely overweight adults should be offered surgery as a first line of treatment, despite it costing around £10,000 a patient.

Key Takeaways:

• The guidelines recommend that children as young as 12 should be given anti-obesity drugs and stomach-stapling surgery in exceptional circumstances, with only a few children a year expected to receive this treatment.
• Surgery, such as gastric banding, stomach-stapling or stomach bypass, should only be offered to children if all other methods of weight loss have failed to have an effect for at least six months.
• The guidelines also recommend that adults with a BMI of 50 or above should be offered surgery as a first-line option, and as a last resort if patients have a BMI of above 40 and have failed to maintain weight loss for at least six months.
• The NHS will provide 15 sessions a year to guide patients through weight loss programmes, but practice nurses and other resources may not be available to support this level of care.
• Employers are encouraged to provide showers at work, cycle racks and subsidised gym membership, while local authorities are advised to provide more cycle lanes and traffic calming schemes.
• Teachers are told to eat with young children, and nurseries are advised to ensure children engage in moderate activity for at least 60 minutes a day.
• The guidelines will be sent to every GP, school, local authority, employer and town planner, and the Department of Health has welcomed the recommendations.
• The NHS faces a £1.2bn deficit, and additional funding may be needed to finance the agreed measures, expected to cost £63m in the first year and £40m in successive years, with long-term savings of £20m a year expected within a decade.

Statistics:

• 1 in 3 adults and 1 in 5 children under 15 will be clinically obese by 2010.
• 12 million adults and 1 million children are expected to be obese, with several million more being overweight.
• Obesity costs the economy £7.4bn a year and shortens life by 7 years.
• GPs are concerned about the lack of physical resources to support the recommended weight loss programmes.
• Only a few children a year will receive stomach-stapling surgery, with 30-40 recommended for the entire population.
• The cost of anti-obesity drugs, such as Reductil and Xenical, is £50 and £40 a month respectively.
• Surgery costs around £10,000 per patient.

Sources:

• National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)
• Department of Health
• National Obesity Forum
• Royal College of General Practitioners
• BBC News
• The Guardian
• The Times