Endocrinologist Warns Fewer Than 5% of Obesity Patients Get Timely Treatment
Updated
Updated · tecscience.tec.mx · Jun 4
Endocrinologist Warns Fewer Than 5% of Obesity Patients Get Timely Treatment
1 articles · Updated · tecscience.tec.mx · Jun 4
Summary
Less than 5% of obesity patients receive treatment, Carolina Solis-Herrera said, arguing the disease should be handled as a medical emergency because intervention often comes only after years of metabolic damage.
Five to six years of delay and treatment starting around a BMI of 37 let obesity drive diabetes, cardiovascular disease and kidney complications that could be prevented with earlier care.
More than 200 complications are linked to obesity, she said, while doctors often treat hypertension, sleep apnea or diabetes first instead of the excess weight underlying those conditions.
Patients older than 12 can now receive approved medicines, and Solis-Herrera said newer GLP-1 drugs have improved efficacy and safety, though they still require long-term follow-up rather than quick-fix use.
Childhood obesity, stigma and bullying are widening the burden, she said, even as COVID-19 and newer science have pushed medicine to view obesity as a chronic inflammatory disease rather than a failure of willpower.