Objective: Obesity critically affects the quality and expectancy of life with its physiological, hormonal, metabolic, and social aspects. This study has assessed the success rate of exogenous obesity management consisting of lifestyle changes with an intensive follow-up in prepubertal children.

Methods: Twenty-two obese prepubertal children between ages 4 and 9 years were enrolled in this study. Eating habits were surveyed, and individually tailored diet programs were introduced. Additionally, an exercise coach prepared individualized exercise programs. Patients were recalled monthly for six months. At each monthly visit, weight, height, BMI, waist circumference, body fat percentages were measured, and compliance with the diet and exercise programs was reviewed. Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used for statistical analysis.

Results: The patients showed statistically significant reductions in BMI, waist circumference, and body fat percentage (p<0.001 for each).

Conclusion: This study demonstrates that in prepubertal obese children, lifestyle changes implemented by intensive follow-up and monitoring could increase the success rate of exogenous obesity management.

Keywords: Exogenous obesity, body mass index, body fat percentage, diet, exercise.