PGI to organise symposium to mull increasing health problems in kids

He added that though a lot of work had been done on NAFLD in adults in India,there was sparse data on NAFLD in children and adolescents. “Over the years,lifestyle of children has also changed in the country. This has especially happened in children who do not engage in outdoor physical activities and spend time watching the television and playing games on computers. Decrease in physical activity in addition of high-calorie foods has led to the problems of overweight,obesity,diabetes mellitus,hypertension and dyslipidemia in children and adolescents. Presence of these metabolic conditions with insulin resistance makes a very fertile ground for the development of NAFLD and its consequences as described in adults,” Duseja said.

“Since NAFLD is a lifestyle disease,its treatment also lies in lifestyle modifications like increase in physical activity,maintaining the right body weight and controlling metabolic risk factors. There are drugs which can control inflammation in liver and can also improve the insulin sensitivity. Though enough data is available for the use of various drugs in adults,there is limited literature of their use in children,” he added.

Panellists for the symposium include Dr S K Acharya and Dr Shalimar from AIIMS,New Delhi; Dr Prashant Mathur from Indian Council of Medical Research,Delhi; Dr Gourdas Choudhuri,Dr Neelam Mohan and Dr Kaushal Madan from Medanta,Medicity,Gurgaon; Dr Puja Sakhuja from GB Pant Hospital,New Delhi; and Dr Seema Alam from Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences,New Delhi.