Doctors should measure waistlines - obesity report
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Doctors should measure waistlines - obesity report
/ CP
Local News - Tuesday, April 10, 2007 @ 08:00
Doctors should add a tape measure to their blood pressure cuff, stethoscope and other key diagnostic tools, say new obesity management guidelines which recommend all Canadian adults and adolescents have their waist circumference sized up during regular checkups.
The advice to measure belly girth is among key recommendations of the first Canadian Clinical Practice Guidelines on the Management and Prevention of Obesity in Adults and Children, a 120-page document put together by dozens of experts across the country under the auspices of Obesity Canada.
The guidelines are being called the first in Canada to provide a comprehensive, evidence-based framework for health-care professionals and policy-makers to battle the growing epidemic of obesity and the diseases that accrue from it, notably cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes.
"We need to talk about the waist circumference measurement as a new 'vital sign,"' said Dr.
David Lau, president of Obesity Canada, a non-profit organization dedicated to dramatically reducing the number of overweight and obese Canadians.
Almost 60 per cent of Canadian adults are overweight and almost one-quarter obese, said Lau, an endocrinologist and a professor of medicine at the University of Calgary. Among children, one in four is overweight and one in 10 obese, he said.
"We are now seeing obesity occurring in children at an alarming rate," Lau said Monday from Calgary. He noted that endocrinologists are seeing overweight and obese teens with health conditions that at one time were seen primarily in adults, including diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
"We're now seeing Type 2 diabetes, previously a typical disease of the 40s and 50s in men and women, now we're seeing this in teenage girls and as young as six years of age," he said, adding today's children are facing a life expectancy shorter than their parents' if the rising tide of obesity isn't dealt with now.
"The way I see it is the personal and societal consequences of inaction on obesity can no longer be ignored."
The guidelines, published as a supplement to today's issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, involved an exhaustive review of the medical literature to determine exactly what weight-loss strategies have been proven to work.
Lau said the recommendations are a first step in giving family doctors and other health providers better tools for helping overweight patients to shed excess pounds and keep them off - and to prevent others from piling them on in the first place.
While that includes keeping tabs on waistline measurements - considered by many a much better indicator of unhealthy weight than body mass index - doctors should also keep a wary eye out for underlying contributors to obesity, including depression and mood or eating disorders, the guidelines advise.
Physicians and other health providers should also counsel patients on ways to overcome unhealthy eating and a sedentary lifestyle, such as priority-setting and time-management strategies, Lau said.
When appropriate, doctors should not hesitate to prescribe medications or refer patients for bariatric surgery, both of which have been proven to help some people lose weight and maintain trimmer bodies, said Dr. Arya Sharma, scientific director of the Canadian Obesity Network and a contributor to the guidelines.
Related: Doctors should measure waistlines - obesity report
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Doctors should measure waistlines - obesity report: from www.nugget.ca
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