Daniel Weghuber

Daniel Weghuber
Paracelsus Medical University Salzburg · University Clinic of Child and Adolescent Medicine

Univ. Prof. Dr.

About

262
Publications
41,472
Reads
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5,050
Citations
Additional affiliations
June 2021 - June 2021
Paracelsus Medical University Salzburg
Position
  • Head of Department
January 2012 - June 2016
Position
  • CEO
July 2006 - present
Paracelsus Medical University Salzburg
Position
  • Professor (Associate)

Publications

Publications (262)
Article
Introduction Hudda-Index is a prediction model for fat mass (FM) based on simple anthropometric measures., FM is a crucial factor in the development of comorbidities, i.e., type 2 diabetes. Hence, Hudda-Index is a promising tool to facilitate identification of children at risk for metabolic comorbidities. It has been validated against deuterium dil...
Article
Full-text available
Introduction: Health systems are confronted with not only the growing worldwide childhood obesity epidemic but also associated comorbidities. These subsequently cause variations in distinct metabolic pathways, leading to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). The aim of this evidence map is to systematically evaluate the...
Article
Full-text available
Anti‐obesity medications (AOMs) have emerged as one element of comprehensive obesity clinical care intended to improve long‐term health outcomes for children and adolescents. The number of pediatric AOM clinical trials has burgeoned in recent years as new pharmacotherapeutics have been developed. Factors related to growth and development in childre...
Article
Background Paediatric obesity is a global public health concern. While in most countries the incidence keeps rising, the need for effective and long‐term management for children and adolescents living with this chronic, relapsing disease is pressing. Health behaviour and lifestyle treatment (HBLT) is recommended as first‐line treatment. Methods Na...
Preprint
Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) is traditionally known for its role in reproduction, but recent studies suggest it may also influence metabolic processes. This study aimed to examine FSH receptor (FSHR) expression in human pancreatic islets and the direct effects of FSH on insulin secretion, as well as explore FSH’s metabolic role during puberty...
Article
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Background Fasting levels of glucagon are known to be elevated in youth and adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D). Children and adolescents with obesity were previously reported to show increasing fasting and post-glucose-challenge hyperglucagonemia across the spectrum of glucose tolerance, while no data are available in those with impaired fa...
Conference Paper
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Introduction: Especially for young people appropriate treatment of obesity is crucial, as behavioural changes take place in the transition from adolescence to adulthood, e.g. increasing separation from the parental home, establishment of own (adult) habits (e.g. nutrition behaviour), which can influence the course of therapy. Evidence-based guideli...
Article
Objectives Recent studies have suggested a link between type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) and metabolic dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) in children and adolescent, but longitudinal evidence is lacking. This study aimed to investigate the potential association between poorly controlled T1D and elevated alanine aminotransferase (A...
Article
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Importance The effectiveness of anti‐obesity medications for children and adolescents is unclear. Objective To update the evidence on the benefits and harms of anti‐obesity medication. Data Sources Cochrane CENTRAL, MEDLINE, ClinicalTrials.gov and WHO ICTRP (1/1/16–17/3/23). Study Selection Randomized controlled trials ≥6 months in people <19 ye...
Article
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Background Mental disorders are important comorbidities in youth with obesity. Aim was to describe the clinical characteristics and outcome of youth with overweight or obesity having comorbid mental disorders. Methods Data from children, adolescents, and young adults (age 6–30 years) with overweight or obesity and mental disorders (depression, anx...
Article
Aim To investigate the prevalence and possible risk factors for the development of impaired glucose metabolism in children and adolescents with obesity. Methods This was a cross‐sectional retrospective cohort study, including 634 patients with obesity and 98 normal weight controls aged 4–18 years from the Beta‐cell function in Juvenile Diabetes an...
Article
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Background GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RA) are increasingly used to treat adolescent obesity. However, the effect on endogenous GLP-1 secretory patterns following treatment in adolescents is unknown. The GLP-1RA exenatide was shown to significantly lower BMI and 2-hour glucose in adolescents with obesity, in the placebo-controlled, randomized con...
Article
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Introduction: Obesity is associated with chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation has also been linked to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and cardiovascular disease. Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor analogs (GLP-1RA) are clinically used to treat obesity, with known anti-inflammatory properties. H...
Article
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Zusammenfassung Adipositas ist eine chronisch-rezidivierende Erkrankung, verbunden mit einer Vielzahl kardiometabolischer, orthopädischer und psychischer Komorbiditäten und hohen Belastungen für die jeweiligen Gesundheitssysteme. Bereits im Kindes- und im Jugendalter sind in Österreich und Deutschland 15–25 % von Übergewicht oder Adipositas betroff...
Article
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Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), originally known as toxic gas, has now attracted attention as one of the gasotransmitters involved in many reactions in the human body. H2S has been assumed to play a role in the pathogenesis of many chronic diseases, of which the exact pathogenesis remains unknown. One of them is inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a chronic...
Article
Objective: The first-line approach for childhood obesity is lifestyle intervention (LI); however, success varies. This study aimed first to identify distinct subgroups of response in children living with overweight and obesity and second to elucidate predictors for subclusters. Methods: Based on the obesity patient follow-up registry the APV (Ad...
Article
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There is an immediate need to optimize cardiovascular (CV) risk management and primary prevention of childhood obesity to timely and more effectively combat the health hazard and socioeconomic burden of CV disease from childhood development to adulthood manifestation. Optimizing screening programs and risk management strategies for obesity-related...
Article
Objective: To examine how improvement in body mass index (BMI) with the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist, semaglutide, translated to changes in BMI category in a post-hoc analysis of the double-blind, phase 3a randomized controlled STEP TEENS trial (NCT04102189). Methods: Adolescents with obesity received once-weekly subcutaneous semaglu...
Poster
Introduction: Anti-obesity medications (AOMs) can form an integral component of obesity treatment. A 2016 Cochrane review by Axon et al. suggested that AOMs (metformin, sibutramine and orlistat) may help older children and adolescents living with obesity to achieve a small reduction in body mass index (BMI (kg/m2 )) (-1.3; 95% confidence inter- val...
Article
Adequate and age-adjusted nutrition is the fundamental basis for healthy growth and development of an infant. Pregnancy and the first 2 years of a child’s life are considered the most important time for metabolic programming and adapting to a healthy eating behavior. The mother’s own milk is the optimal source of nutrition during the first months o...
Article
Full-text available
Background Children with obesity have an increased risk of cardiometabolic risk factors, but not all children carry a similar risk. Perinatal factors, i.e., gestational age (GA) and birth weight for GA, may affect the risk for metabolic complications. However, there are conflicting data whether the association between birth size and cardiometabolic...
Article
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The single point insulin sensitivity estimator (SPISE) is a recently developed fasting index for insulin sensitivity based on triglycerides, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, and body mass index. SPISE has been validated in juveniles and adults; still, its role during childhood remains unclear. To evaluate the age- and sex-specific distribution...
Article
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Until recently, glucagon was considered a mere antagonist to insulin, protecting the body from hypoglycemia. This notion changed with the discovery of the liver-alpha cell axis (LACA) as a feedback loop. The LACA describes how glucagon secretion and pancreatic alpha cell proliferation are stimulated by circulating amino acids. Glucagon in turn lead...
Article
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What is this summary about? This is a plain language summary of the STEP TEENS research study, which was originally published in the New England Journal of Medicine. As more teenagers are living with obesity than ever before, researchers are searching for new treatments. This was the first study looking at how well the medicine semaglutide works as...
Article
Full-text available
Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a toxic gas that has important regulatory functions. In the colon, H2S can be produced and detoxified endogenously. Both too little and too much H2S exposure are associated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a chronic intestinal disease mainly classified as Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). As the patho...
Article
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Objectives Associations between body mass index (BMI)‐ standard deviation score (SDS)/waist‐to‐height ratio (WHtR) were studied with (i) serum uric acid (sUA)/gamma‐glutamyl‐transferase (GGT) and (ii) cardiometabolic risk markers in children with obesity, considering sex, pubertal development, and degree of weight loss/type of patient care. Method...
Article
Aims: To characterize children and adolescents with latent autoimmune diabetes of the young (LADY), and to assess the utility of classifying individuals as LADYs regarding their cardiovascular (CV) risk factors. Methods: Data from 25,520 individuals (age at diagnosis <18 years) of the Prospective Diabetes Follow-up Registry Diabetes-Patienten Ve...
Article
Background: A once-weekly, 2.4-mg dose of subcutaneous semaglutide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist, is used to treat obesity in adults, but assessment of the drug in adolescents has been lacking. Methods: In this double-blind, parallel-group, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, we enrolled adolescents (12 to <18 years of age) with...
Article
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Purpose: The study aimed to define the genotypic and phenotypic spectrum of reversible acute liver failure (ALF) of infancy resulting from biallelic pathogenic TRMU variants and to determine the role of cysteine supplementation in its treatment. Methods: Individuals with biallelic (likely) pathogenic variants in TRMU were studied through an inte...
Article
Full-text available
Objective Over the years, non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFLD) disease has progressed to become the most frequent chronic liver disease in children and adolescents. The full pathology is not yet known, but disease progression leads to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Risk factors included hypercaloric diet, obesity, insulin resistance and genet...
Article
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Obesity is a chronic disease, in which treatment outcomes are highly dependent on patient and family adherence to behavioural recommendations. The role of healthy eating, physical activity, medication adherence as well as adherence to pre- and post-bariatric surgery protocols are of utmost importance for long-term treatment outcomes. Even the best...
Article
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Background Physical activity is key for preventing obesity and development of noncommunicable diseases later in life. Previous research suggests that socioeconomic factors, such as parental education or income, may influence a child’s risk of obesity. However, previous research on this has provided heterogeneity in results. Our aim was to investiga...
Article
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Background Children are becoming less physically active for a variety of interrelated reasons. The availability of opportunities for safe active playgrounds, recreational activities and active transport has decreased, while time spend on sedentary screen-based activities has increased. This study aimed to evaluate physical activity (PA), sedentary...
Article
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Introduction: While international prevention guidelines recently advocated, in addition to moderate and vigorous physical activity (MVPA) guidelines, for a minimization of sedentary time (SED), recommendations remain to be developed for youths with obesity. Methods: A literature search was conducted in PubMed, the Cochrane Library plus the refer...
Article
Full-text available
To compare patterns of sedentary (SED) time (more sedentary, SED + vs less sedentary, SED-), moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) time (more active, MVPA + vs less active, MVPA-), and combinations of behaviors (SED-/MVPA + , SED-/MVPA-, SED + /MVPA + , SED + /MVPA-) regarding nonalcoholic fatty liver diseases (NAFLD) markers. This cross-se...
Article
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Paediatric non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become the most common chronic liver disease in childhood. Obesity is the main risk factor. Nutrition and lifestyle are the key elements in preventing and treating NAFLD in the absence of approved drug therapy. Whilst recommendations and studies on macronutrients (carbohydrates, fat and prote...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose of Review To present the definitions and recommendations for movement behaviors in children and adolescents, including physical activity (PA), sedentary behaviors (SB), and sleep, and to provide an overview regarding their impact on health and obesity outcomes from childhood to adulthood, as well as interactions with appetite control. Rece...
Preprint
Full-text available
Purpose: To compare patterns of sedentary (SED) time (more sedentary, SED+ vs less sedentary, SED-), moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) time (more active, MVPA+ vs less active, MVPA-) and combinations of behaviors (SED-/MVPA+, SED-/MVPA-, SED+/MVPA+, SED+/MVPA-) regarding nonalcoholic fatty liver diseases (NAFLD) markers. Methods: This c...
Article
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During a dual-center study on obese and normal weight children and adolescents, focusing on glucose metabolism, we observed a marked difference in glucose results (N = 16,840) between the two sites, Salzburg, Austria and Uppsala, Sweden (P < 0.001). After excluding differences in patient characteristics between the two populations as cause of this...
Article
Full-text available
Background Attenuated insulin-sensitivity (IS) is a central feature of pediatric non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We recently developed a new index, single point insulin sensitivity estimator (SPISE), based on triglycerides, high-density-lipoprotein and body-mass-index (BMI), and validated by euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp-test (EHCT)...
Article
Background Relationships between movement-related behaviours and metabolic health remain underexplored in adolescents with obesity. Objectives To compare profiles of sedentary time (more sedentary, SED+ vs. less sedentary, SED−), moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) time (more active, MVPA+ vs. less active, MVPA−) and combinations of behav...
Article
Full-text available
Background Relationships between movement‐related behaviours and metabolic health remain underexplored in adolescents with obesity. Objectives To compare profiles of sedentary time (more sedentary, SED+ vs. less sedentary, SED−), moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) time (more active, MVPA+ vs. less active, MVPA−) and combinations of beha...
Article
Full-text available
Introduction. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which includes Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), is a multifactorial intestinal disorder but its precise etiology remains elusive. As the cells of the intestinal mucosa have high energy demands, mitochondria may play a role in IBD pathogenesis. The present study is aimed at evaluating...
Article
Full-text available
Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is highly prevalent in children and adolescents with obesity and places them at an increased risk of cardiovascular-related diseases. However, the associations between objectively measured movement-related behaviors and MetS diagnosis remain unexplored in youths with obesity. The aim was to compare profiles of sedentary (S...
Conference Paper
Background: Health systems are not only confronted with the growing worldwide childhood obesity epidemic, but also associated comorbidities. These subsequently cause variations in distinct metabolic pathways, such as hepatic fat accumulation, which leads to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The aim of this evidence map is to systematically...
Article
Full-text available
Introduction: Parents can act as important agents of change and support for healthy childhood growth and development. Studies have found that parents may not be able to accurately perceive their child's weight status. The purpose of this study was to measure parental perceptions of their child's weight status and to identify predictors of potentia...
Article
Full-text available
Establishment of the WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI) has resulted in a surveillance system which provides regular, reliable, timely, and accurate data on children's weight status-through standardized measurement of bodyweight and height-in the WHO European Region. Additional data on dietary intake, physical activity, s...
Article
Full-text available
Carbohydrate counting (CHC) is the established form of calculating bolus insulin for meals in children with type 1 diabetes (T1DM). With the widespread use of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) observation time has become gapless. Recently, the impact of fat, protein and not only carbohydrates on prolonged postprandial hyperglycaemia have become m...
Conference Paper
Während der COVID19-Pandemie im Jahr 2020 lag der BMI SDS der in den Adipositas-Ambulanzen und Rehabilitationskliniken betreuten Kinder und Jugendlichen gering höher als in den beiden Vorjahren. Während der COVID19-Pandemie fanden insgesamt weniger Untersuchungstermine, weniger stationäre Rehabilitationen und weniger Bewegungstherapien pro Patient...
Article
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Zusammenfassung Das Spektrum der Entwicklungsstörungen gehört zum Alltag des Facharztes für Kinder- und Jugendmedizin. Durch den zunehmenden Einsatz von „Next-generation sequencing“-Methoden in den letzten 10 Jahren werden die genetischen Hintergründe besser verstanden. Hiermit eröffnen sich Möglichkeiten in der Routinediagnostik und auch für patho...
Article
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Zusammenfassung Genetische Defekte werden vielfach noch als Schicksal empfunden, mit dem man sich Zeit seines Lebens abfinden muss. Es stimmt, dass vererbte Anlagen in vielen Fällen zu schweren Krankheiten führen, allerdings stimmt es auch, dass der Anteil von genetischen Defekten, bei denen eine Therapieoption besteht, stetig wächst und sich der A...
Article
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The traditional approach to childhood obesity prevention and treatment should fit most patients, but misdiagnosis and treatment failure could be observed in some cases that lie away from average as part of individual variation or misclassification. Here, we reflect on the contributions that high‐throughput technologies such as next‐generation seque...
Article
Background: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the leading hepatic disease in children, ranging from steatosis to steatohepatitis and fibrosis. Age, sex, hormonal levels, pubertal stages, genetic risk- and epigenetic factors are among the many influencing factors. Appearing predominantly in children with obesity, but not exclusively, it i...
Article
Full-text available
Background Socioeconomic differences in children's food habits are a key public health concern. In order to inform policy makers, cross-country surveillance studies of dietary patterns across socioeconomic groups are required. The purpose of this study was to examine associations between socioeconomic status (SES) and children's food habits. Metho...
Article
Full-text available
Background There is evidence that nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) increases the risk for dysglycemia in children in cross-sectional studies. However, the extent to which NAFLD may confer the risk for dysglycemia in longitudinal studies remains uncertain. Objectives We investigated whether elevated levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT)...
Article
Full-text available
Background: Due to the growing risk of obesity and related diseases in the population of children, effective preventive measures are of great importance. Front-of-pack (FOP) nutrition labelling may contribute to health promotion by increasing consumer awareness on the nutritional qualities of packaged foods and purchasing decisions, and it may sti...
Article
Background Relationships between the severity of obesity and bone health remain underexplored. Objectives To compare whole-body and localized bone mineral content (BMC) and density (BMD), trabecular bone score (TBS) and hip geometry and strength between adolescents with obesity versus extreme obesity. Methods This cross-sectional study included 1...
Article
Full-text available
The regulatory (neuro)peptide galanin and its three receptors (GAL1–3R) are involved in immunity and inflammation. Galanin alleviated inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in rats. However, studies on the galanin receptors involved are lacking. We aimed to determine galanin receptor expression in IBD patients and to evaluate if GAL2R and GAL3R contribut...
Article
Physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep are important predictors of children's health. This paper aimed to investigate socioeconomic disparities in physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep across the WHO European region. This cross-sectional study used data on 124,700 children aged 6 to 9 years from 24 countries participating in th...
Article
In order to address the paucity of evidence on the association between childhood eating habits and urbanization, this cross-sectional study describes urban–rural differences in frequency of fruit, vegetable, and soft drink consumption in 123,100 children aged 6–9 years from 19 countries participating in the fourth round (2015–2017) of the WHO Europ...