Coming soon: a new disease definition, ‘Clinical Obesity’

An upcoming document by a Lancet Commission of 56 of the world’s leading obesity experts will entirely reframe obesity as a “condition of excess adiposity” that constitutes a disease called “clinical obesity” when related tissue and organ abnormalities are present.

On November 4, the publication’s lead author, Francesco Rubino, MD, chair of bariatric and metabolic surgery at King’s College London, United Kingdom, noted that, despite the declaration of obesity as a chronic disease more than a decade ago, the concept is still debated and not widely accepted by the public nor by all in the medical community.

“The idea of obesity as a disease remains highly controversial,” Rubino noted, since the current body mass index (BMI)–based definition doesn’t distinguish between currently healthy people whose excess adiposity place them at excess risk for disease vs those who already have undergone bodily harm from that adiposity. “Having a framework that distinguishes at an individual level when you are in a condition of risk and when you have a condition of disease is fundamentally important” he noted.

The new paper will therefore propose a two-part clinical approach: First, assess whether the patient has excess adiposity. Next, assess on an organ-by-organ basis for the presence of abnormalities related to excess adiposity, or “clinical obesity.”

Rubino told Medscape Medical News he hopes the new framework will prompt improvements in reimbursement and public policy. “Having an obesity definition that is blurry doesn’t allow you to have a fair, human, and meaningful prioritization… Now that we have drugs that cannot be given to 100% of people, how do you decide who gets them first? I hope this will make it easier for people to access treatment.”

To find out more, CLICK HERE.

 

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