Obesity being the major reason behind several health problems gets hit with new variables that might change its definition.
As per the Associate Press, a team of international experts is proposing additional factors to look out for when diagnosing and defining obesity that would reduce the emphasis on the controversial body mass index (BMI).
The report published by 58 authors in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology journal on Tuesday night shared that obesity would no longer be defined solely by BMI, a calculation of height and weight.
Other measurements will be added for the diagnosis including, waist circumference and possible health problems that could potentially add extra pounds.
According to the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, around 40% of adults have obesity in U.S and nearly 1 billion people worldwide are affected by it.
Dr. David Cummings, an obesity expert at the University of Washington and one of the authors of the report shared, "The whole goal of this is to get a more precise definition so that we are targeting the people who actually need the help most."
Types of obesity
The report introduces two new diagnostic categories: clinical obesity and pre-clinical obesity.
People with clinical obesity meet BMI and have pre-diagnosed problem like high blood pressure, heart disease, liver or kidney or chronic severe knee or hip pain.
These people would have been eligible for treatments, including diet and exercise interventions and obesity medications.
For pre-clinical obesity, people are at risk for previous mention conditions but have no on-going illness.
BMI has been considered a flawed measure that can over or under diagnose obesity.
"It wouldn’t dramatically change the percentage of people being defined as having obesity, but it would better diagnose the people who really have clinically significant excess fat," Cummings noted.
This new defining factors for obesity have been endorsed by more than 75 medical organisations around the world, but it remains unclear how quickly this practice would be adopted.
