An article on childhood obesity
2024 Sep 18.
This, from www.news-medical.net (uploaded September 10, 2024), an article entitled “Liraglutide for Children 6 to <12 Years of Age with Obesity – A Randomized Trial”: the PMID is 39258838 and the DOI is https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmoa2407379
Abstract (selected text copied, verbatim)
Background: No medications are currently approved for the treatment of nonmonogenic, nonsyndromic obesity in children younger than 12 years of age. Although the use of Liraglutide has been shown to induce weight loss in adults and adolescents with obesity, its safety and efficacy have not been established in children.
My conclusion
Basically, this article says that Liraglutide is safe for children and works well, to reduce obesity and it recommends prescribing the drug to children as young as 6 years of age, although it makes no mention of any attempt to diagnose the cause of the children’s obesity and no consideration of the idea that if a treatable cause were found, the children could be returned to normal health without starting them on a lifetime course of a very expensive and possibly dangerous medication.
OPINION
This article reports a well-done study, registered with Clinicaltrials.gov (designated number NCT04775082): its https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04775082. It is to be believed.
However it makes no mention of metabolic studies of any sort and particularly, no mention of the stress-related hypothyroidism, intracellular hypothyroidism, which is the hormonal/metabolic aberration most likely to be associated with obesity, whether childhood or adult.
This upsets me!
I find it distressing, that trained, expert physicians regard it as normal practice, to state that “Liraglutide’s safety and efficacy have not been established in children” and then to prescribe a months-long (perhaps lifelong!) course of Liraglutide to undiagnosed children!
It is even more distressing that the folks at clinicaltrials.gov would blithely issue a permit for a major investigation of unsuspecting children, in a format which does not include finding a diagnosis, before enrolling them in a trial of a new, untested drug.
Just to remind you:
(1) Details regarding Intracellular Hypothyroidism are to be found in “ResearchGate”, and/or in the “Aging and Your Hormones” SUBSTACK, via “Posts, in alphabetical order”, at https://gervaisharry.substack.com/p/substack-posts-alphabetical-order, or directly, at https://gervaisharry.substack.com/p/undiagnosed-hypothyroidism.
(2) The diagnostic criterion for IH is expressed in the T3/rT 3 table, below.
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