Medical, Surgical, Behavioral, Preventive Approaches to Address the Obesity Epidemic

摘要

This issue of the Rhode Island Medical Journal deals with obesity and is meant for the practicing physician to get an up-to-date overview of available preventative community services from the State of Rhode Island and evidenced-based treatment modalities. Obesity is a major personal health, society and economic problem in the United States, where, according to the Cen- ters for Disease Control, more than one third (36.5%) of adults have obesity. In Rhode Island, about 25%, or about 200,000 persons, have obesity. Every practicing physician sees several obese patients per day. The most recent esti- mated annual medical cost of obesity in the U.S. was $147 billion in 2008 – $1,429 per obese person per year higher than for those of normal weight. 1 Obesity has been considered a disease by the American Medical Association since 2013. A person's weight status is categorized by the Body Mass Index, BMI, which is an imperfect measure, but the one that is easiest and most widely accepted. A person with a BMI of 25–30 is considered overweight and a BMI above 30 is considered obese. Obe- sity itself is classified into Class 1 (BMI 30–35), Class 2 (BMI 35–40) and Class 3 (BMI above 40).