Pennington Biomedical's Amanda Staiano Served as Co-Author on New American Academy of Pediatrics Obesity Guideline

BATON ROUGE—Today, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued its first comprehensive guideline in 15 years on evaluation and treatment of children and adolescents with obesity. Pennington Biomedical's Dr. Amanda Staiano, director of pediatric obesity and health behavior laboratory, served on the national committee to create the clinical practice guidelines released today.

"At Pennington Biomedical, our scientists are not only working on cutting-edge research to fight chronic diseases, but they are also developing and outlining the best practices for medical professionals to follow," said Dr. John Kirwan, Pennington Biomedical executive director. "We are proud of the work being done by Dr. Staiano, and the guideline released today gives doctors, parents, and children more tools to effectively treat obesity."

Evidence-based recommendations on medical care for those age 2 and older are included within a new "Clinical Practice Guideline for the Evaluation and Treatment of Children and Adolescents with Obesity," published in the February 2023 Pediatrics (published online Jan. 9). The guideline is accompanied by an executive summary and two technical reports, "Appraisal of Clinical Care Practices for Child Obesity Treatment. Part I: Interventions," and "Appraisal of Clinical Care Practices for Child Obesity Treatment. Part II: Comorbidities."

Dr. Staiano served as a co-author on the guideline, along with serving as second author of the two appraisals that provide the evidence for the guideline.

"These guidelines are a game changer to provide comprehensive, evidence-based medical care to children with obesity," Staiano said. "Obesity treatment is safe and effective, and I'm proud to be part of the team that reviewed over 30 years of scientific evidence that support these guidelines. Treatment should begin early and at the highest intensity necessary, which may include intensive health behavior and lifestyle treatment, pharmacotherapy, and metabolic and bariatric surgery."

Dr. Staiano is available for media interviews on the guideline or on obesity treatments in general for adolescents. To arrange an interview, please contact Ernie Ballard, Pennington Biomedical's senior director of communications and marketing, at 225-763-2677 or ernie.ballard@pbrc.edu.

For more information on the American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines, visit https://www.aap.org/obesitycpg.

About the Pennington Biomedical Research Center

The Pennington Biomedical Research Center is at the forefront of medical discovery as it relates to understanding the triggers of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and dementia. The Center architected the national "Obecity, U.S." awareness and advocacy campaign to help solve the obesity epidemic by 2040. The Center conducts basic, clinical, and population research, and is affiliated with LSU.

The research enterprise at Pennington Biomedical includes over 480 employees within a network of 40 clinics and research laboratories, and 13 highly specialized core service facilities. Its scientists and physician/scientists are supported by research trainees, lab technicians, nurses, dietitians, and other support personnel. Pennington Biomedical a state-of-the-art research facility on a 222-acre campus in Baton Rouge.

For more information, see www.pbrc.edu.

Provided by Louisiana State University