Health consequences of obesity
- 1University of Glasgow Division of Developmental Medicine, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Yorkhill, Glasgow G3 8SJ
- 2The Cander Centre, 17 King Street, Stonehouse, Lanarkshire ML9 3EQ
- 3Department of Oncology, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh
- 4Nethertown Surgery, Elliot Street, Dunfermline KY11 4TF
- 5Department of Dietetics, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, 20 Sylvan Place, Edinburgh EH9 1UW
- 6Section of Child Life & Health, Department of Reproductive and Developmental Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, 20 Sylvan Place, Edinburgh EH9 1UW
- Correspondence to:
Dr J Reilly, Univesity of Glasgow Division of Developmental Medicine, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Yorkhill, Glasgow G3 8SJ, UK;
jjr2y{at}clinmed.gla.ac.uk
Abstract
The recent epidemic of childhood obesity1 has raised concern because of the possible clinical and public health consequences.2,3 However, there remains a widespread perception among health professionals that childhood obesity is a largely cosmetic problem, with minor clinical effects. No systematic review has yet focused on the diverse array of possible consequences of childhood obesity, though older non-systematic reviews are available.4,5 In addition, no review to date has considered the vast body of evidence on the health impact of childhood obesity which has been published recently. The aim of the present review was therefore to provide a critically appraised, evidence based, summary of the consequences of childhood obesity in the short term (for the child) and longer term (in adulthood).
