[Guidelines for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of obesity. Update 2024]

This document updates the "Clinical practice guidelines for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of obesity" issued by the Nutrition Committee of the Argentine Pediatric Society, published in Archivos Argentinos de Pediatría in 2011. Obesity has a multifactorial etiology. It is recommended to diagnose it taking into account anthropometry, personal and family history, and clinical data that indicate complications (sleep apnea, elevated alanine transaminase and/or glycemia, and other components of the metabolic syndrome). It is proposed to know the risks and management of the hospitalized patient with obesity. This document reinforces the role of a healthy lifestyle as the main therapeutic strategy, recognizing the possibility of other treatments with very precise indications (pharmacological and surgical). Considering that obesity is a chronic disease, access to treatment must be guaranteed and patient follow-up must be promoted through the intervention of an interdisciplinary team.