MINI REVIEW article
Front. Sleep
Sec. Pediatric and Adolescent Sleep
Volume 4 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frsle.2025.1634185
This article is part of the Research TopicUnderstanding Obesity Hypoventilation Syndrome and Obstructive Sleep Apnea in ChildrenView all articles
Multidisciplinary Care of Pediatric Obesity and its Impact on Sleep: A Review
Provisionally accepted
Christopher M Cielo*
Ravali Inja- Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, United States
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Pediatric obesity has emerged as a significant global health issue with multifaceted consequences, including its impact on sleep health. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and obesity hypoventilation syndrome (OHS) are among the serious sleep-related comorbidities in obese children, contributing to impaired quality of life, cognitive deficits, and cardiovascular risks. These conditions frequently coexist with other obesity-related complications such as insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). This review explores the importance of multidisciplinary care in addressing pediatric obesity, emphasizing early diagnosis, nutritional counseling, physical activity interventions, psychological support, and pharmacologic therapies such as glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists. The role of global trends, academic performance, and wellbeing clinics are also discussed. Although promising, the use of GLP-1s and surgical interventions in pediatrics remains constrained by limited data, particularly concerning their impact on sleep disorders. Further research is essential to clarify the long-term effects of GLP-1 receptor agonists and bariatric surgery not only on obesity and sleep-related comorbidities such as OSA and OHS, but also on cognitive function, psychosocial wellbeing, and overall health outcomes-thereby informing evidence-based, multidisciplinary approaches to pediatric obesity management.
Keywords: Sleep Apnea, Pediatrics, Obesity, Weight Loss, Obesity hypoventilation, multidisciplinary approach
Received: 23 May 2025; Accepted: 04 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Cielo and Inja. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Christopher M Cielo, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, United States
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.