Obesity - Prevalence - Prevention and Treatment

Question: Discuss about theObesity,Prevalence,Prevention and Treatment. Answer: Introduction This paper includes information about the obesity, criteria for obesity, its prevalence mainly in Australia and US, role of healthcare professionals in obesity management, its impact on society, medication and non-medication management of obesity. Definition of Obesity According WHO, obesity is defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to health. Obesity may be caused due to disproportionate food energy consumption, lack of exercise or sedentary lifestyle, genetics, family history, medical or psychological complications, lack of sleep, endocrine disruptors and smoking. Person becomes obsess when there is calorie intake in the form of food is in excess of calorie burnt through exercise or physical work. Obese condition can be evaluated based on the three parameters like body weight, Body mass index (BMI) and fat content. World Health Organization (WHO) and Standards Listed in Metropolitan Life Insurance mentioned that increase in the body weight 20 % or more, should be considered as obesity. BMI is calculated by body mass divided by square of body height and it is expressed as in units of kg/m2. As per WHO, BMI greater than 30 is considered as obesity (WHO,2016). Third evaluation criteria for obesity is body fat (VanPutt e et al., 2014). Other than above mentioned parameters obesity can also be measured in terms of abdominal obesity. Abdominal obesity can be measured by waist size measurement and this measurement is devoid of BMI consideration. Person can be considered obese with waist size of 35 inches or more and 40 inches or more in women and men respectively. Obesity is more common disease in women as compared to the men. Out of the total obesity population around 10 percent are men and 14 percent are women. Obesity is not a permanent condition. Obesity can be controlled by proper diet, exercise and proper medication. Prevalence in United States and Australia Worldwide obesity is one of most serious public health problem. Prevalence of obesity is there in both developed and developing countries. In last decade, it has pulled off global recognition. According to WHO estimate around 600 million people are obese worldwide (WHO, 2016). Rate of prevalence of obesity differ from one region to different region based on the dietery and lifestyle habits. North America has higher prevalence rate. Prevalence of Obesity in United States With the global trend, in US also female are more obese as compared to male. In US 20 % male and 25 % female are obese out of the total obese population. In adults, obesity is more serious problem in US. About 36.5 % of the total US adults are obese. In US non-Hispanic blacks have highest rate of obesity with (48.1 % ) obesity, followed by non-Hispanic whites at 34.5%, and non-Hispanic Asians at 11.7%. In terms of age obesity is more prevalence of obesity is more in middle aged people between 40-59 years with the rate of 40.2 % followed by older adults with age more than p0 years with rate of 37.0 % and younger adults in the age between 20-39 have rate of 32.3 % (CDC, 2016). Prevalence of Obesity in Australia Australia is also one of the countries facing obesity problem. Cost of expenditure for obesity is around $830 million in Australia. In Australia 48% of men and 30% of women above the age of 18 years are overweight. In the same age group population 19% of men and 22% of women are obese. In Australia, prevalence of obesity increases with age of the people. People in the age group of 65-74 are 74.9 % either obese or overweight. 36.4 % people in the age group between 18-24 years age are obese or overweight. People living in the urban areas with Australian aboriginal population have more prevalence of obesity as compared to the general population and particularly women. Children and adolescents from Europe or middle-east cultural backgrounds have higher rate of obesity than other English speaking or Asia backgrounds. (Hayes, et al., 2016). Role of Health Care Professional: Nurse: Nurse should educate and motivate people about the healthy food, health and adequate nutrition. Nurse should keep record of people weight and plan nursing plan in terms of food and physical activity accordingly. Nurse should advice people to practice brisk walking, jogging or cycling to work on regular basis. Nurse should evaluate risk factors and family history of people. This information helps nurse to plan for specific nutrition and exercise for people with family history of obesity. Nurses should advice people to reduce smoking and alcohol consumption. Nurse should advice people to maintain ideal lifestyle habits throughout the life and it should not be stopped once weight is in control (Ackley and Ladwig, 2014; Doenges et al., 2016). Nutritionist: Nutritionist can help obese people to reduce body weight and maintain reduced body weight for life long. Nutritionist helps obese people to change their eating habits according to their interest in food, lifestyle of people, emotional status and physical activity level. Nutritionist can plan diet of people after studying their history of diet so that people should take suitable diet. Nutritionist plan realistic and achievable calorie measured diet and optimum exercise programme for people. Nutritionist asses body weight of people on regular basis and change dietary plan of accordingly (Hoelscher et al., 2013). Impact on Community: Obesity is risk factor for other diseases like mental health problems, liver disease, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, muscular skeletal disease, some cancers, and respiratory disease. All these disease together leads to the disability in the people and more life span in ill health condition which causes social burden and cost implication on the society. There is also possibility that people with obesity may have social isolation, negative perception from society and reduced income. Due to diseased condition, there is also deprived quality of life and wellbeing of the society. Due to obesity people may have psychological effects like anxiety and depression and these conditions of people leads to the negative impact on society and disturbed society (Puhl and Brownell, 2011). Prevention and Treatment for Obesity There are different treatment and management strategies are available for obesity. These treatment and management strategies comprised of life style modification, diet modification, psychological therapy, exercise and physical activity, surgical interventions and medication therapy. In most of the cases two or three treatment and management strategies are practiced in combination. In diet modification treatment and management strategy, patient should take good and drink according to the nutritional requirements and physical activity. Foods advised for obesity control are like wholegrain products, high fiber containing food, food low in saturated and trans fat, fruits and vegetables. Person with obesity should avoid to take alcohol and sugar containing food. To treat obesity, diet with an energy deficit of 500kcal/day and a low energy density food is recommended (Wirth et al., 2014). This type of food helps in weight loss and maintain of reduced weight. Formula products with low energy content are also recommended for obesity control. Regular three meals a day at regular intervals is recommended. Self-assessment of obesity with eating habit is advisable. Person should keep record of his or her daily intake and corresponding change in body weight. Person should be consistent with eating habit and it should not be changed on holidays and weekends (Uerlich et al., 2016). Life style modification is very efficient prevention and treatment for obesity. Lifestyle in which there is very less physical activity is involved like sitting for longer duration in office leads to the weight gain. Obesity can be prevented or weight can be managed effectively by performing exercise and physical activity on daily basis. Weight gain also can be managed by participating more in outdoor activities as compared to indoor activities. For adults physical activity and exercise for 2 hrs per week is recommended. With more body weight, person should extend exercise for more than 2.5 hrs per week. Life style modification not only control obesity but also manage other diseases associated with the obesity (Unick, et al., 2013). There is abundant literature available for the medication management of obesity. It has been well reported that Orlistat, lorcaserin, and phentermine, when used as additional management strategy along with lifestyle intervention, there is more than five percent weight loss in a period of one year. As obesity is associated with other diseases, it is better to have medication treatment along with lifestyle interventions because it is evident from the literature that combined implementation of medication and lifestyle intervention have more beneficial outcome as compared to the medication alone (Kahan et al., 2013). Obesity medication should be consumed for the longer duration, hence obesity medication is associated with adverse effects. In these circumstances, obesity medication should be weighed alongside beneficial effects of obesity medication (Lauer, 2012). Currently available medications for obesity can reduce body weight in the range of 3-9 % in one year. Obstacles to the long te rm use obesity medication include cost of the treatment, opinion of inadequate efficacy, safety issues and unwillingness to consider obesity as disease (Yanovski and Yanovski, 2014). Figure: Successfully treating obesity requires integration of multiple approaches (Dixon, 2016) . Quote: Not one single country has managed to turn around its obesity epidemic in all age groups. This is not a failure of individual will-power. This failure of political will to take on big business. Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) for 200617. Conclusion Obesity is a chronic condition associated with the augmented body fat and weight gain resulting in numerous serious health complications. There are multiple factors responsible for the occurrence of obesity. Hence, for treatment and management also multiple options are available. These treatment and management are more effective in combination as compared to the individual intervention. 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