According to the World Health Organisation, people are considered obese when their Body Mass Index (BMI) is over 30. However, when it comes to children other factors also have to be taken into consideration, not just kilos and size, says paediatric diabetologist Dr Carine De Beaufort from the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg (CHL).
She explained that they are now working with a Canadian model that focuses on the following four cateogories: mechanical, mental, metabolic, social milieu. These criteria allow physicians to assess whether an overweight child is at risk of becoming obese and needs treatment.
In that context, the CHL has been collaborating closely with the rehabilitation centre and the psychiatric youth clinic of the Robert Schuman Hospital Group for several years now. An estimated 250 new patients go to the paediatric diabetology services for consultation each year. 450 children receive follow-up treatment.
The rehabilitation centre has the capacity to accommodate 30 obese children and youths per trimester. Here, they mainly learn how to eat healthily and how to get the physical exercise they need. But, many patients do not only require physical care, they also need mental support to tackle the root of the problem. Being overweight is often the result of a trauma.
One such case is Olivia Keller. The now teenager was already overweight at a very young age and subjected to mobbing in school. She quickly entered a vicious circle and kept on eating more and more. This eventually led to asthma and Olivia was hospitalised by the time she was twelve. Thanks to an eight-week-long treatment at the psychiatric youth clinic, Olivia learned how to better process difficult phases and change her dietary habits.
