26
ISSUES: Fitness & Health
Chapter 2: Understanding obesity
the effect this would have on diseases
in the population, and the cost to the
NHS of treating these diseases.
It multiplied this £3.9 billion by seven
to reach the estimate that the total
cost would be £27 billion by 2015.
A lot can change in a
decade
Changes in diet since these estimates
were made could have affected
the number of overweight people,
which in turn could have increased
or reduced the costs to the NHS and
to the economy. The cost of NHS care
could have deviated from the forecast
for other reasons – for example if drugs
costs went up faster than expected.
Similarly, it’s not clear that total costs
were or will always be seven times the
cost to the NHS, as they – roughly –
were deemed to be in 2002.
For instance, changes to the labour
market and to the benefits system
could change the employment rate for
people considered to be overweight
or obese. That means the overall
economic cost could change relative
to the treatment costs.
As the National Obesity Observatory
said of the research:
“Whilst modelling is helpful, it
necessarily relies on existing patterns
of treatment and assumptions about
continued patterns of eating and
physical activity as well as behavioural
and social responses to obesity.
It might also be helpful to look
at alternative scenarios as part of
modelling estimates such as: obesity
trends continue; obesity continues
to rise by a specified percentage per
year; obesity is reduced by a specified
percentage per year.”
Finally, the £27 billion was in 2007
prices. In today’s prices the cost would
be higher.
17 March 2016
Ö
The above information is reprinted
with kind permission from Full Fact.
Please visit
for
further information.
© 2010–2017 Full Fact
URMC study shows obesity
diagnosis is often overlooked
Failure to identify obesity results inmissed opportunity
to intervene.
D
espite a growing epidemic,
many medical providers fail
to diagnose obesity in their
patients and miss an opportunity to
identify an important component
of long-term health, according to a
University of Rochester Medical Center
study published in the
Journal of
Community Health
.
Among patients whose body mass
index (BMI) indicated obesity, providers
diagnosed and documented obesity
in less than a quarter of office visits
with children, and less than half for
adolescents and adults, researchers
found. The study further found that
patients
living
in
less-educated
communities were even less likely to
receive an accurate diagnosis.
“As a medical community, we can’t
effectively manage obesity until we are
identifying it properly in our patients,”
said Robert J Fortuna, M.D., M.P.H.,
assistant professor of Medicine and
Pediatrics in Primary Care at URMC
and one of the study’s authors. “By not
accurately diagnosing obesity, we are
missing the opportunity to influence the
trajectory of our patients’ health over
the course of their lives.”
Using data from the National Center
for Health Statistics, researchers looked
at records from 885,291,770 medical
office visits for adults and children from
2006 to 2010. Of the visits where a BMI
measurement suggested obesity, the
diagnosis of obesity was made in only
23.4 per cent of children ages 5 to 12
years, and 39.7 per cent of adolescents
(ages 13 to 21 years). Rates of diagnosis
were highest for young adults (ages 22
to 34) at 45.4 per cent, and adults ages
35 to 64 at 43.9 per cent. Adults age 65
and older were diagnosed as obese 39.6
per cent of the time. Obesity was more
likely to be identified in females and in
people who live in areas with a higher
percentage of college-educated adults.
The study echoes previous research that
demonstrates that up to 82 per cent
of children and young adults are not
being appropriately diagnosed as obese
during office visits. The researchers
speculated on potential explanations for
the failure to diagnose obesity, including
the possibility that the high prevalence
of obesity in lower socioeconomic areas
may desensitise providers to normal
body size. In addition, other medical
problems and social issues may take
priority over discussing obesity, and
social stigma may make providers
hesitant to label patients, especially
children, as obese.
“Discussing obesity with patients must
be done in a sensitive and delicate
manner; providers may avoid it because
they don’t want to offend patients,” said
study co-author Bryan Stanistreet, M.D.
“Beyond that, providers may also avoid
this discussion because communities
lack resources to help support patients,
educate them on diet and encourage
regular exercise.”
“The lower recognition of obesity in
vulnerable populations is particularly
concerning,” Fortuna said. “Our findings
demonstrate the fundamental need
to improve the recognition of obesity
in vulnerable populations, such as
young children and those living in less-
educated communities.”
Erica O. Miller, M.D., Emily Ruckdeschel,
M.D., and Karen Nead, M.D., were
also co-authors on the study. “Factors
Associated with the Accurate Diagnosis
of Obesity” was published online in June
and will appear in an upcoming print
edition of the
Journal for Community
Health
.
29 August 2016
Ö
The above information is reprinted
with kind permission from the
University of Rochester. Please
visit
for
further information.
© 2017 University of Rochester Medical
Center Rochester, NY
