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Obesity - Management
How should I assess a person who is overweight or obese?
- Assess:
- Underlying causes and comorbidities (e.g. medical problems, medication, psychological and social factors).
- Risk of developing complications of obesity (e.g. medical or psychological).
- Lifestyle in terms of diet and exercise.
- The potential health benefits of weight loss to the person.
- The person's feelings about being overweight (e.g. beliefs, previous attempts to lose weight, and what was learnt).
- The person's willingness and motivation to try to lose weight.
Basis for recommendation
- This recommendation is based on guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) on the prevention, identification, assessment, and management of overweight and obesity in adults and children [NICE, 2006b] and the care pathway for the management of overweight and obesity from the Department of Health [DH, 2006a].
- NICE looked at the evidence for the common comorbidities in adults who are overweight or obese, and the effectiveness of weight loss in these people, along with their expected health gain [National Collaborating Centre for Primary Care, 2006].
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