Summary of Recommendations

Summary of Good Practice Statements

Document Overview

Design and created by Guideline Central in participation with the Obesity Canada.

Managing Obesity in Children

Obesity Canada

Publication Date: Apr 14, 2025

Page Last Updated: May 6, 2026

Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE)-Based Recommendations

Implications for:	Strong Recommendation (S)	Conditional Recommendation (C)
Patients	Most individuals in this situation would want the recommended course of action, and only a small proportion would not.	The majority of individuals in this situation would want the suggested course of action, but many would not.
Clinicians	Most individuals should receive the intervention. Adherence to this recommendation according to the guideline could be used as a quality criterion or performance indicator. Formal decision aids are not likely to be needed to help individuals make decisions consistent with their values and preferences.	Recognize that different choices will be appropriate for individual patients and that you must help each patient arrive at a management decision consistent with his or her values and preferences. Decision aids may be useful in helping individuals to make decisions consistent with their values and preferences.
Policy	The recommendation can be adopted as policy in most situations.	Policymaking will require substantial debate and involvement of various stakeholders.

Certainty in the Evidence
High	H	Low	L
Moderate	M	Very Low	VL

Source: Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation Working Group (Schunemann HJ et al. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2006;174:605-14. Guyatt GH et al. BMJ 2008;336:924-6).

Document Overview

Document Title: Managing Obesity in Children

Authoring Society: Obesity Canada

Document Publication Date: Apr 14, 2025

Page Last Reviewed/Updated: May 6, 2026

Document Type: Guideline

Country of Publication: Canada

Full Text Freely Available: Yes

Full Text Guideline: www.cmaj.ca/content/197/14/E372

Source Citation: Managing obesity in children: a clinical practice guideline, Geoff D.C. Ball, Roah Merdad, Catherine S. Birken, Tamara R. Cohen, Brenndon Goodman, Stasia Hadjiyannakis, Jill Hamilton, Mélanie Henderson, John Lammey, Katherine M. Morrison, Sarah A. Moore, Aislin R. Mushquash, Ian Patton, Nicole Pearce, Joshua K. Ramjist, Tracy Rhyason Lebel, Brian W. Timmons, Annick Buchholz, Jennifer Cantwell, Jennifer Cooper, Julius Erdstein, Donna Fitzpatrick-Lewis, Dawn Hatanaka, Patrice Lindsay, Tasneem Sajwani, Meghan Sebastianski, Diana Sherifali, Julie St. Pierre, Muhammad Usman Ali, Jessica Wijesundera, Angela S. Alberga, Christine Ausman, Trisha C. Baluyot, Emily Burke, Kara Dadgostar, Bronwyn Delacruz, Elizabeth Dettmer, Maegan Dymarski, Zahra Esmaeilinezhad, Ilona Hale, Soren Harnois-Leblanc, Josephine Ho, Nicole D. Gehring, Marsha Kucera, Jacob C. Langer, Amy C. McPherson, Leen Naji, Krista Oei, Grace O’Malley, Angelica M. Rigsby, Gita Wahi, Ian S. Zenlea, Bradley C. Johnston, CMAJ Apr 2025, 197 (14) E372-E389; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.241456

Supplemental Implementation Resources

Graphical Abstract

Document Scope, Criteria, and Use Cases

Document Objectives: Obesity is a complex, chronic, stigmatized disease whereby abnormal or excess body fat may impair health or increase the risk of medical complications, and can reduce quality of life and shorten lifespan in children and families. We developed this guideline to provide evidence-based recommendations on options for managing pediatric obesity that support shared decision-making among children living with obesity, their families, and their health care providers. This guideline will support children, families, and health care providers to have informed discussions about the balance of benefits and harms for available obesity management interventions to support value- and preference-sensitive decision-making.

Scope: Management

Diseases/Conditions (MeSH)

D009765 - Obesity

D000073319 - Obesity Management

D063766 - Pediatric Obesity

Keywords: childhood obesity, obesity, pediatric obesity

Target Patient Population: Individuals up to 18 years old with obesity

Target Provider Population: Providers of health care to children with obesity in varied settings

Inclusion Criteria: Male, Female, Adolescent, Child

Health Care Settings: Ambulatory

Intended Users: Dietician/Nutritionist, Nurse, Nurse Practitioner, Physician, Physician Assistant

Recommendation Development Processes & Methodology

Supplemental Methodology Resource: Data Supplement

Managing Obesity in Children

Summary of Recommendations

Behavioural and psychological interventions

1.1 Multicomponent interventions

1.2 Nutrition interventions

1.3 Physical activity interventions

1.4 Psychological interventions

1.5 Technology interventions

Pharmacologic interventions

2.1 Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists

2.2 Biguanides

2.3 Lipase inhibitors

Surgical interventions

3.1 Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy

3.2 Roux-en-Y gastric bypass

Summary of Good Practice Statements

Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE)-Based Recommendations

Document Overview

Supplemental Implementation Resources

Document Scope, Criteria, and Use Cases

Recommendation Development Processes & Methodology