Recent news about obesity

From the Journal of Epidemiology it appears that duration of obesity is an important factor in measuring its health impact.   For every two years of obesity deaths are increased by 7%; all cause mortality doubles for every decade of obesity (reported at the BBC, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-14614209) .  Obesity now accounts for about 10% of health care expenditures in the United States.

There has been some controversy about the health effects of obesity in the elderly.  However, in a study with a 29 year follow up published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found that the higher the BMI, the higher the mortality (reported in Health Day News, http://www.physiciansbriefing.com/Article.asp?AID=655969http

A timely podcast from BMJ Learning entitled “Obesity in adults: assessment and management” can be found at http://learning.bmj.com/learning/module-intro/.html?moduleId=10013841&utm_campaign=147484&utm_content=371944386&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Emailvision