(32) Obesity
Leon, 5 Years Old and Morbidly Obese
Overweight/Obesity and Morbidity in Minority Populations
The data on overweight and obesity in minority populations include men and women across a wide age range and geographic area. Relevant studies increasingly consist of well-designed, population-based surveys and longitudinal studies.
These studies have standardized, objective measurements of overweight and obesity and risk factors or disease outcomes. There is now a wealth of evidence to demonstrate that overweight and obesity incidence (both generalized and abdominal) predisposes to chronic diseases in racial/ethnic minority populations as it does in whites, though the absolute risk may differ.
Indications for treatment of overweight and obesity in minority populations are, therefore, the same as those for non-Hispanic whites. Apparent differences in the strength of association between obesity and disease in various populations are not necessarily relevant to individuals in clinical settings, and obesity should be treated in any situation in which excess weight is associated with an observable or probable risk of morbidity.
In addition, from a public health perspective, the need for obesity prevention and treatment is particularly pressing in racial/ethnic minority populations because of the high proportion of overweight and obese persons in many such populations.
