Management of Hypothalamic Obesity during Transition from Childhood to Adulthood

Hypothalamic obesity (HO) is a rare and serious disease of various origins: tumor, traumatism, radiotherapy, vascular, genetic, or even psychotropic drug use. HO usually begins in childhood with eating disorders and progresses with an aggregate of severe comorbidities. Transition from pediatric to adult health care is a critical period to assure weight stability and a good management of comorbidities. In case of loss to follow-up, there is an increased risk of major weight gain and long-term complications with severe obesity. To minimize this risk, pediatric and adult specialists must work together to prepare, supervise, and monitor transition. Transition ideally involves the patient, parents, and care providers with a good communication between pediatric and adult teams from expert centers. Maintaining a diet and physical activity management plan, acquisition of autonomy for hormone replacement therapy and management of psychosocial consequences of obesity are fundamental issues in patients with HO. Patient associations and specialized diet center weight loss programs can help as well as group approaches.