Obesity is an alarmingly increasing global public health issue. Several countries worldwide have witnessed a double or triple escalation in the prevalence of obesity in the last three decades, probably due to urbanization, sedentary lifestyle, and increase consumption of high-calorie processed food.
The alarming increase in childhood obesity foreshows a tremendous burden of chronic disease prevention in the future public healthcare systems worldwide. Obesity prevention is a critical factor in controlling Obesity-related Non-communicable diseases OR-NCDs , including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke, hypertension, cancer, and psychological problems.
This activity reviews the public health considerations in obesity and highlights the role of the interprofessional team in developing public health strategies for the management and prevention of this condition. Objectives: Review the comorbidities associated with obesity. Outline the psychosocial considerations in people suffering from obesity.
Describe the individual and public health consequences of obesity. Identify barriers to the delayed seeking of healthcare and utilization of preventive screening programs by interprofessional team. Access free multiple choice questions on this topic. Obesity is labeled as a national epidemic, and obesity affects one in three adults and one in six children in the United States of America.
The failure of the traditional obesity control measures has stressed the importance of a new non-stigmatizing public policy approach, shifting away from the traditional focus on individual behavior change towards strategies dealing with environmental change. The other big challenge related to overweight and obesity is weight bias and discrimination. In public settings such as work environments, healthcare facilities, and educational setup, obese individuals face discrimination.
The relative risk of death increases with an increase in BMI. Obese individuals have lower rates of age-appropriate preventive cancer screening. Women who suffer from obesity delay seeking routine gynecological cancer screening due to many social barriers. Crucial risk factors have been recognized in several studies as an effort to decrease the obesity burden, which includes the perinatal factors like maternal antenatal BMI, weight at birth and child's nutrition in the first three years of life, feeding options breastfeeding versus formula feeding , and growth pattern in the first year.
It is imperative to assess and address the barriers that obese patients face which delay pursuing their healthcare needs.
Inadequate healthcare in these patients regarding their presenting complaints and preventive health visits leads to public health consequences in obesity. Impairment of efforts in the prevention of obesity cause health and social inequalities.
Environmental changes are the best initiative in preventing the burden of obesity. A drastic public policy can bring a significant environmental change, of which some are listed below. The family-based approach is the best intervention to sustain weight loss and have weight maintenance among patients with overweight or obesity. The overweight subjects living in a family will have significant difficulties changing their lifestyle without family support.
Several studies have proven that a low-fat diet with high protein and a low glycemic index effectively sustains weight maintenance and weight regain. The weight bias in the health care system can be explicit consciously expressed or implicit involuntarily expressed.
Implicit weight bias is not rare to see among Health care providers. Society's negative biases towards overweight or obesity often are shared and exhibited by the health care provider HCP. The weight bias by the health care team can impair the patient's health care quality. Most HCPs believe in the energy balance theory of weight control, which encourages the thinking of obesity issues being a personal responsibility and limiting the scope of appropriate counseling.
Obesity is a national epidemic affecting every one in three adults and one in six children in the United States of America. The rising trend has been attributed to change in environmental and food practices in the face of the increasingly sedentary lifestyles of people. Tracking childhood obesity into adulthood poses a significant burden on the healthcare system for managing this and its complications.
Obesity is crucial to developing non-communicable diseases OR-NCD , which include diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery diseases, to name a few. The psychological aspect regarding the stigma of obesity leads to delay in seeking healthcare in these individuals. While the primary care physician diagnoses obesity, it is equally important to consult with an interprofessional team of specialists, including dieticians, psychologists, behavioral counselors, and exercise specialists.
When managing a child with obesity, consultation with pediatric endocrinologists, neurologists, and surgeons also has a vital role in the child's growth. Nurse practitioners are a vital part of the interprofessional group as continued and frequent motivation is needed to inculcate positive health-related changes in their daily life.
Primary care physicians can help these patients by constantly monitoring their weight and BMI and regularly scheduling annual health maintenance visits. The physician should make an effort to address any barriers that the patient perceives related to seeking healthcare. Dieticians are intrinsically involved in the management and can help create a diet plan considering the patient's personal choices and beliefs. Skip to content Obesity Program.
Harvard T. Obesity Program Menu. It is no surprise that the Affordable Care Act is now requiring insurers to take on obesity. Unfortunately in America today, we are surrounded by junk food, which is usually extremely high in added sugars. And even worse, this food is often easier to prepare and more accessible than healthy options, like fruits and vegetables. To meet this challenge, Harvard University School of Public Health recommends restricting easy access to junk food, making healthy options more available through subsidies, increasing labeling standards, and taxing sugary drinks.
According to a study conducted by Kaiser Permanente, one third of Americans say they don't walk even ten minutes at any one time during the week, and another third don't walk enough to meet the minimum threshold for physical activity set by the CDC. As a result, Harvard School of Public Health recommends communities pursue living environments that encourage walking and biking rather than car dependence.
Obesity: What Are the Consequences? Obesity: What Can We Do? Corresponding Author: Sahra A. Telephone: Email: skahin cdc. The opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the U. Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link.
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