Rethinking obesity - Looking beyond body mass index
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Based on the anthropometric measure of body mass index (BMI), 2.5 billion adults worldwide are living with overweight and 890 million are living with obesity. BMI has traditionally been used to assess obesity and, in some instances, is still a useful measure. A negative impact on life expectancy is associated with greater BMI values, especially from the upper end of the overweight range. Compared with a BMI of 22.5-25 kg/m2, a BMI 27.5-30 kg/m2 is associated with a reduced life expectancy of 1-2 years, class I obesity (30-35 kg/m2) with a two- to four-year reduction and a BMI 40-50 kg/m2 with an eight- to 10-year reduction.
Upon completing this review, you will gain an understanding of:
- How obesity contributes to the development of a vast range of complications
- The reasons why body mass index is no longer the sole diagnostic criterion and the role of other anthropometric measures in the diagnosis of obesity
- Current guideline recommendations for management of obesity that moves beyond weight reduction alone
- The key elements comprising proactive care for people with overweight/obesity.
Professor John Wilding
Clinical Research Lead in Obesity,
Diabetes and Endocrinology
at the University of Liverpool,
UK
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