This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Obesity consensus produces basis for 'concerted action plan'
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
WASHINGTON — After 2 days of collaborative discussion with physicians, researchers, government, industry and insurance representation, the Consensus Conference of Obesity, supported by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and American College of Endocrinology, today put forth its consensus statement as a framework for the “concerted action plan” to conquer the obesity epidemic.
“We were faced with a paradox. We had increasing rates of obesity causing an increasing amount of patient suffering and associated costs. At the same time, we had improved tools to treat and prevent obesity: improvements in lifestyle intervention, new pharmaceuticals, refinements in bariatric surgery techniques. We generated the idea for this conference to remedy that paradox,” W. Timothy Garvey, MD, chair of the conference, said during the press conference. “The old world thinking that obesity is a lifestyle choice — this has failed us. We feel that continuing to ignore the fact that obesity is a disease and not deserving of the full force of our medical model has failed us, failed our patients and failed our society.”
W. Timothy Garvey
Garvey said bringing together all of the stakeholders in obesity was a unique environment that produced this evidence-based, multi-dimensional, comprehensive framework.
“We’re looking at a common evidence base with all of these different stakeholders interpreting this information and data, again perhaps bringing their own perspective and priorities to the table but hashing through this together because we needed everybody to buy in to a certain consensus and evaluation of data if we’re really going to build a concerted action plan,” he said.
The final consensus statement put forth affirmed concepts that are validated in literature; emergent concepts that are new and arose through the dynamic discussions of the conference; and final key findings.
The affirmed concepts stated are: obesity is a chronic disease; the AACE/ACE obesity algorithm should be implemented in patients with obesity; lifestyle intervention is critical to a comprehensive treatment plan for obesity; the obesogenic factors in the environment must be reduced; and primary and secondary prevention strategies are critically important.
The emergent concepts that arose from this conference were: the definition of obesity must be improved; different organizations require different thresholds of evidence based on specific mandates and decision processes; public awareness can change private reimbursement strategies and health care coverage; intergenerational obesity must be prevented through intervention in children from infants to pregnant women; understanding the value of obesity care is important for patients, physicians, payers and employers.
Lastly, the key findings centered on treatment of obesity as a chronic disease, preventive medicine and the demonstration of value of obesity treatments in a combination of biomedical and public health models.
“By and large, people don’t choose to be overweight or obese. And at any given moment, the majority of people who are overweight or obese are trying to do something about it. By recognizing the value of medical management of this problem, we open up opportunities that have been denied us for two generations of physicians,” Daniel Einhorn, MD, FACP, FACE, co-chair of the conference, said.
Jeffery I. Mechanick
Jeffrey I. Mechanick, MD, FACN, FACP, FACE, ECNU, co-chair of the conference and AACE president, said the committee expects two more steps in this process: Take these concepts — old, emerging and new — and merge them together to formulate specific, actionable recommendations that can be applied to individual patients and then determine how to implement them.
“With all the information and all the action and activity that’s been going on, there’s been a woefully slow progression or dip in the obesity prevalence rates if you look at these epidemiologic curves,” Mechanick said. “We’re becoming impatient with this obesity epidemic and there has been a call for action. We need to act now.”
For more information:
Disclosure: The consensus conference is supported by Covidien, Eisai, Ethicon, Novo Nordisk, Takeda and Vivus.