Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Socio-economic factors have a huge impact on children and young people’s (CYP) overall health status. The rates of childhood overweight and obesity continue to rise and the CYP from areas with higher social deprivation are adversely affected with higher rates of obesity. We report the link between socio-economic deprivation and complications from excess weight (CEW) in the CYP being managed in a tier 3 multi-disciplinary (MDT) weight management service.

Objectives: To evaluate the relationship between level of deprivation and CEW in CYP.

Methods: Retrospective data from 101 patients (53 Females) being managed as part of the MDT service were analysed. Demographic data including Index of Multiple Deprivation Decile (IMDD), age, gender, BMI, BMI standard deviation score, medical diagnoses, and CEW were included in the analysis. The IMDD was checked using the online Postcode Lookup Tool (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, n.d) for each patient’s postcode (N=101) and allocated into IMD Deciles 1 – 10.

Results: The mean age of the CYP was 14.1 years. 54 different postcodes were identified throughout the catchment area of the service. 52.9% of the patients fell within the most deprived 10% of the lower layer super output areas (LSOAs) nationally. 2/3 of the patients live in IMDD 1–3. 70% of patients from IMDD 1 and 50% of patients living in IMDD 2 experience two or more weight related complications. All patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) live in the lower IMDD (level 1–4) and 50% of them live in IMDD 1.

Conclusions: Majority of patients in our cohort live in the most deprived areas suggesting a strong link between socio-economic deprivation and the prevalence of severe obesity. In addition, CYP living in the most deprived areas tend to suffer from significantly higher number of CEW including T2DM. This poses unique challenges in the management of the patients as cost of living and poverty could be potential barriers in achieving the healthy weight status. Further research to investigate the impact of poverty and deprivation on the outcomes of weight management services would be crucial in identifying targeted strategies.