site.btaExperts Warn of Rising Childhood Obesity at National Obesity Congress with International Participation

Experts discussed trends in childhood obesity during the Second National Congress on Obesity with international participation which took place in Sofia. The three-day forum is organized by the Bulgarian Association for the Study of Obesity and Associated Diseases (BASORD) with the support of the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO). This year’s main theme is “Sex Matters in Obesity”. Key topics in the programme include the national strategy for prevention and treatment of obesity, modern GLP-1 therapies, childhood obesity, the impact of sex differences on metabolic health, and the future of obesity treatment.

More than 300,000 children in Bulgaria are affected by overweight or obesity, with 113,000 children aged between five and nine classified as overweight and 193,000 as either overweight or obese, said Prof. Dr. Teodora Handjieva-Darlenska, Chair of BASORD. She said that according to a UNICEF report from 2025, Bulgaria is among the European countries with the highest levels of childhood obesity, with nearly one in three children affected. She added that these figures indicate a particularly concerning health profile among children. By 2040, an estimated 26,000 young people are expected to have a high body mass index and suffer from high blood pressure, she further warned.

EASO President Prof. Volkan Yumuk presented data on global obesity trends, stressing that if decisive action is not taken, around 3.8 billion adults over the age of 25 could be overweight or obese by 2050. He emphasized the need for comparative analyses across countries, noting that valuable insights can be drawn from nations where obesity rates have stabilized at low levels or plateaued early.

According to recent trends, improvements in obesity indicators are first observed among children, Prof. Yumuk said. In high-income countries, positive changes are typically first seen among children and adolescents. He said that in most developed countries, the rise in childhood obesity began before the start of the new millennium. After 2000, this trend slowed, and in some cases even slightly declined. By the mid-2000s, increases in obesity rates among school-age children and adolescents in many high-income countries had begun to stabilize, and in some cases decrease, he added.

The economic impact of overweight and obesity is estimated at one trillion dollars, said Prof. Kiril Karamfilov, head of the Cardiology Clinic at Alexandrovska University Hospital. He described this as a major economic burden, highlighting the scale of the social, medical, and financial challenge posed by obesity.

The role of general practitioners in obesity management was highlighted by general medicine specialist Dr. Tatyana Mateva. She said that the family doctor is often the most accessible healthcare professional for patients, and that preventive check-ups represent the first line of obesity prevention.