Obesity in South and Southeast Asia-A New Consensus on Care and Management

Overview

Journal Obes Rev

Specialty Endocrinology

Date 2022 Dec 1

PMID 36453081

Authors

Kwang Wei Tham

Rohana Abdul Ghani

Sioksoan C Cua

Chaicharn Deerochanawong

Mia Fojas

Samantha Hocking

June Lee

Tran Quang Nam

Faruque Pathan

Banshi Saboo

Sidartawan Soegondo

Noel Somasundaram

Alice M L Yong

John Ashkenas

Nicola Webster

Brian Oldfield

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Obesity is a chronic disease in which the abnormal or excessive accumulation of body fat leads to impaired health and increased risk of mortality and chronic health complications. Prevalence of obesity is rising rapidly in South and Southeast Asia, with potentially serious consequences for local economies, healthcare systems, and quality of life. Our group of obesity specialists from Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Viet Nam undertook to develop consensus recommendations for management and care of adults and children with obesity in South and Southeast Asia. To this end, we identified and researched 12 clinical questions related to obesity. These questions address the optimal approaches for identifying and staging obesity, treatment (lifestyle, behavioral, pharmacologic, and surgical options) and maintenance of reduced weight, as well as issues related to weight stigma and patient engagement in the clinical setting. We achieved consensus on 42 clinical recommendations that address these questions. An algorithm describing obesity care is presented, keyed to the various consensus recommendations.

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