Epidemiology of Obesity

Overweight and obesity are conditions characterized
by weight levels higher than the normal
limits for age, sex, and height. Because
people stratified for sex and age vary in stature
and this influences weight, criteria for being
overweight must take height into account: this
is defined and set out in WHO guidelines on
the basis of Body Mass Index (BMI): weight
(kg)/height2 (m2). Obese and overweight individuals
are at a greater risk of developing chronic
metabolic conditions and general ill health,
than those whose weights are within the recommended
guidelines. Besides these chronic related
conditions for which obesity is a major risk
factor incur enormous expenditure. The health
hazards of obesity are compounded by the
influence of central fat distribution. The disease
associations of central fat are present even
in people who are not overweight. Waist circumference
is a simple measure that gives a
very reasonable estimate of the amount of central
fat. Data collected in the USA and Europe
show a common trend: the increase of obesity
and overweight among the adult and children
population. Obesity appears to be the result of
several factors that interact among them such
as: genetic, environment, and behaviour.
Current strategies, such as reducing food intake,
seem to lead to poor long term outcomes.
Management has tended to neglect the unavoidable
need to consider obese subjects as
chronically ill patients, requiring continuous
assistance for active steps to maintain weight
loss. Treatments should be multidisciplinary
aiming at the achievement of radical changes in
the individual’s lifestyle. The planning and
management of preventive programs for young
people such as pubertal children have been
disregarded up to now. They require not only
attention, but also organization, clear goals and
standardized methods. Moreover, a correct education
is a key-element of these issues. Our unit
has designed for this purpose an observational
study aimed to reach a better comprehension
of the proportion of “weight problems”
and eating behavioural patterns in a population
of adolescents.