India, Oct. 8 -- Adolescents with obesity should be considered for weight-loss drugs only if they also have a related complication, such as type 2 diabetes, and at least six months of supervised lifestyle treatment has failed, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its first guideline on the subject.

The guideline covers young people aged 10 to 19 and was released in Geneva on Wednesday. It says such drugs should be prescribed by a team of specialists after "close evaluation of complete pubertal development, final adult height, and psychological stability".

The WHO rates the evidence behind the recommendation as low quality, and does not recommend a specific drug, but its guideline comes as glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drugs, a ...