Steps towards the prevention of obesity and associated complications

Abstract

The problem of obesity is often not recognised. For example, the prevalence of obesity in Sweden is estimated to be 10%, but a study of a county of 414 358 inhabitants and the records from 41 primary healthcare centres found that only 949 (3.1%) of patients were registered as obese. This is alarming, since overweight and obesity can be easily identified and the prevention and treatment of obesity is crucial in order to prevent type 2 diabetes. A screening programme in Kisa, a district of southern Sweden, found that 45% of men and 32% of women were overweight (BMI 25–30 kg/m²), while 12% of men and 17% of women were obese (BMI>30 kg/m²). Among people without diagnosed diabetes, a family history of obesity emerged in 1384 subjects; 707 were overweight or obese (BMI>25 kg/m²), with 270 of these having abdominal obesity. Of 212 of these patients who agreed to an oral glucose tolerance test, 16 were found to have type 2 diabetes and 70 impaired glucose tolerance. It is vital that primary healthcare teams become more active in developing co-ordinated programmes of identification, registration and long-term management of overweight and obese people.