Childhood obesity in a COVID-19 pandemic scenario: an experience report

Abstract

In 2019, the world was surprised by the new coronavirus (SARS - CoV - 2) that emerged in the east and quickly spread around the world, giving rise to a pandemic that suddenly made everyone adapt to a "new normal" which brought changes in socioeconomic and health areas. Furthermore, even before the pandemic situation, a reality and concern among health professionals was the growing incidence of obesity among children, being considered one of the biggest current public health problems by the WHO. In view of the points previously discussed, this paper aims to report the experience of medical students from the tenth period of UniFOA at the Pediatric Endocrinology outpatient clinic, in the initial care of a child complaining of a change in life habits during the COVID-19 pandemic and the possible negative impacts that such changes can have on their quality of life. When facing the above-mentioned case, the validation of the hypotheses presented can be seen: the pandemic and the lockdown caused an abrupt change in the children's life habits, causing a negative impact on their routines, with regard to nutrition, the onset of childhood obesity and the increase from exposure to screens. The experience in the Pediatric Endocrinology outpatient clinic provided a more effective experience in ratifying the exposed data, as it showed real and palpable cases of the consequences established in this current scenario. It was also possible to notice the change in the content of consultations, due to previous contact with pediatric consultations before the COVID pandemic.