82
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: not found

      The medical risks of obesity.

      1
      Postgraduate medicine
      Informa UK Limited

      Read this article at

      ScienceOpenPublisherPMC
      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Obesity is at epidemic proportions in the United States and in other developed and developing countries. The prevalence of obesity is increasing not only in adults, but especially among children and adolescents. In the United States in 2003 to 2004, 17.1% of children and adolescents were overweight, and 32.2% of adults were obese. Obesity is a significant risk factor for and contributor to increased morbidity and mortality, most importantly from cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes, but also from cancer and chronic diseases, including osteoarthritis, liver and kidney disease, sleep apnea, and depression. The prevalence of obesity has increased steadily over the past 5 decades, and obesity may have a significant impact on quality-adjusted life years. Obesity is also strongly associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality as well as cardiovascular and cancer mortality. Despite the substantial effects of obesity, weight loss can result in a significant reduction in risk for the majority of these comorbid conditions. Those comorbidities most closely linked to obesity must be identified to increase awareness of potential adverse outcomes. This will allow health care professionals to identify and implement appropriate interventions to reduce patient risk and mortality. A systematic search strategy was used to identify published literature between 1995 and 2008 that reported data from prospective longitudinal studies of obesity and comorbid medical conditions. This article will review evidence for significant associations of obesity with comorbidities to provide information useful for optimal patient management.

          Related collections

          Author and article information

          Journal
          Postgrad Med
          Postgraduate medicine
          Informa UK Limited
          1941-9260
          0032-5481
          Nov 2009
          : 121
          : 6
          Affiliations
          [1 ] Division of Endocrinology Diabetes and Nutrition, St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center, New York, NY 10025, USA. fxp1@columbia.edu
          Article
          NIHMS197029
          10.3810/pgm.2009.11.2074
          2879283
          19940414
          0e7b0719-83f9-4039-b424-a2988c9e1133
          History

          Comments

          Comment on this article