11/5/21, 5:39 AM Obesity - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

Obesity
Obesity is defined as the hypertrophy of adipocytes or fat cells that
have physiological functions such as immune and inflammatory
response and endocrinal functions.
From: Endothelial Signaling in Vascular Dysfunction and Disease, 2021

Related terms:

Metabolic Syndrome, Insulin Resistance, Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Diabetes

Mellitus, Insulin, Leptin, Adipose Tissue

OBESITY
M.H. Sanders, R. Givelber, in Encyclopedia of Respiratory Medicine, 2006

Overweight and obesity conditions are becoming increasingly pervasive in the

community with far-reaching health consequences. The respiratory system is
susceptible to clinically significant dysfunction that is interactively manifested
during wakefulness and sleep. In general, pulmonary mechanics assessed during
wakefulness in overweight/obese individuals reflects a restrictive pattern with the
greatest impact in those with greater obesity and as the body habitus displays a
more central distribution of adiposity. This observation notwithstanding, other
etiologies should be excluded before attributing pulmonary restriction to obesity.
Overweight/obesity-related alterations in lung volumes may also be associated with
systemic hypoxemia due to breathing below the closing volume of small airways
and ventilation/perfusion inhomogeneity. Epidemiologic studies have
demonstrated an association between overweight/obese conditions and asthma.
However, whether or not overweight/obesity increases bronchial
hyperresponsiveness remains controversial. Obesity may also indirectly promote
nocturnal asthma by predisposing individuals to gastroesophageal reflux. Increased
body mass index (BMI) is a major risk factor for obstructive sleep apnea–hypopnea
(OSAH) and this represents another pathway through which overweight/obese
conditions contribute to cardiovascular disease and possibly type 2 diabetes
mellitus. Importantly, sufficient weight reduction often results in marked
improvement in OSAH. Greater degrees of obesity may, in some individuals, be
associated with hypoventilation with or without concomitant OSAH as well as
increased risk for pulmonary artery hypertension and cor pulmonale. Obesity-
hypoventilation may initially be evident during sleep and then extend into
wakefulness. A high index of suspicion is needed to diagnose nocturnal obesity-
hypoventilation in order to initiate noninvasive positive pressure therapy in the
short term and reinforce the need for long-term weight reduction through either
medical or surgical intervention.

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Obesity
Kristin A. Harmon, Daniel H. Bessesen, in Endocrine Secrets (Fifth Edition), 2009

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1 Define the terms “overweight” and “obesity.”

Overweight and obesity are defined as degrees of excess weight that are associated
with increases in morbidity and mortality. In 1998, the National Heart, Lung, and
Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) published guidelines on
the diagnosis and treatment of overweight and obesity. The expert panel advocated
using specific body mass index (BMI) cutoff points to diagnose both conditions.
The BMI is calculated by dividing a person's weight in kilograms by his or her
height in meters squared. A BMI (kg/m2) of 25 or less is normal; 25 to 29.9,
overweight; 30 to 34.9, mild obesity; 35 to 39.9, moderate obesity; and greater than
40, severe or morbid obesity.

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Obesity
C.F. Bolling, S.R. Daniels, in Encyclopedia of Infant and Early Childhood
Development, 2008

Overweight is defined as being at greater than or equal to 95th percentile BMI for
age and gender. At-risk for overweight (AROW) is defined as being greater than or
equal to the 85th percentile and less than the 95th percentile BMI for age and
gender. Rates of AROW and overweight are on the increase throughout all areas of
the world, but are most increased in the developed and near developed world.
There are numerous genetically triggered causes of obesity, but recent changes in
diet and activity appear to be the greatest contributor to rising rates of pediatric
overweight. Complications of overweight and obesity are primarily but not limited
to high blood pressure, abnormalities in cholesterol and lipid metabolism, insulin
resistance and diabetes, orthopedic problems, sleep apnea, hepatitis from fatty
deposits in the liver, neurologic complications, clotting abnormailities, and
depression. As a result of this plethora of complications, the healthcare costs of
obesity and overweight are estimated to be roughly equal to the healthcare costs
associated with smoking. While there is promise with pharmacologic and surgical
interventions in some older patient groups, behavioral therapy remains the
mainstay of the treatment and prevention of pediatric overweight.

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Obesity
Gail Galasko, in xPharm: The Comprehensive Pharmacology Reference, 2007

Epidemiology
Obesity is a leading public health concern. Over 1 billion people are now
overweight, and the prevalence is increasing world wide, including the prevalence
of childhood obesity. In many nations, the incidence of obesity has almost doubled
between 1976 and 1999. In the USA, an estimated 61% of adults and 14% of
children are seriously overweight or obese. The incidence of obesity in the USA
nearly doubled from ∼15% in 1980 to ∼27% in 1999. Increasing obesity has been
found in both sexes and all socioeconomic classes, with greatest increase being
seen in 18–29 year olds and those with higher education.

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Obesity
C.V. Mobbs, in Encyclopedia of the Neurological Sciences (Second Edition), 2014
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Abstract
Obesity, characterized by excess fat stores, constitutes a major risk for many
diseases, especially diabetes. Obesity is currently defined as a body mass index >30.
The prevalence of obesity has increased dramatically since 1980, leading some to
refer to an obesity epidemic, which may constitute the greatest threat to public
health in the twenty-first century. Fat stores are determined by the balance of food
intake and energy expenditure. Largely this balance is regulated by hypothalamic
neurons that monitor nutritional status by sensing blood levels of leptin, which
reflect fat stores, and nutrients such as glucose, which reflect short-term nutrient
state. Currently, the only effective treatment for obesity is gastric bypass surgery.

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Volume I
Michael A. Cowley, ... Robert V. Considine, in Endocrinology: Adult and Pediatric
(Seventh Edition), 2016

Children
Excess body weight is also increasingly prevalent among children and adolescents
(Table 26-3). Among children 2 to 19 years of age, 31.8 % were overweight (BMI
≥85th percentile of the CDC growth chart), and 16.9% were obese (BMI ≥95th
percentile of the CDC growth chart).12 Because the prevalence of overweight and
obesity in children and adolescents is increasing, the need for medical
management of obesity and associated comorbidities is unlikely to decline in the
future.
The epidemic of obesity is not limited to the United States. Worldwide, the
prevalence of overweight and obesity combined increased by 27.5% for adults and
47.1% for children between 1980 and 2013.13 The proportion of men who were
overweight increased from 26.8% (uncertainty interval [UI] 28.4 to 29.3) to 36.9%
(36.3 to 37.4), and the proportion of women who were overweight increased from
29.8% (29.3 to 30.2) to 38.0% (37.5 to 38.5). As of 2013, women in both developing
and developed countries were more obese than men, and 62% of the world’s obese
individuals live in developing countries.

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Obesity
Shannon M. Kehle, ... Michael A. Friedman, in Encyclopedia of Applied Psychology,
2004

1.1 Definition
Obesity is defined as possessing a body mass index (BMI) of at least 30 kilograms
per square meter (kg/m2), and morbid/extreme obesity is defined as possessing a
BMI of at least 40 kg/m2. Besides using BMI, there are various ways in which to
measure total body fat and classify obesity such as imaging techniques to assess
localization of body fat, underwater weighing, skinfold thickness, and waist/hip
circumference ratio. Obesity is often a chronic condition in which individuals who
attempt to diet subsequently regain their lost weight, leading to “weight cycling.”

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Obesity

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Samuel Klein, Johannes A. Romijn, in Williams Textbook of Endocrinology
(Thirteenth Edition), 2016

Cancer
Overweight and obesity increase the risk of cancer. Based on data from a
prospective study in more than 900,000 U.S. adults,193 it was estimated that
overweight and obesity could account for 14% of all deaths from cancer in men
and 20% of such deaths in women. Obesity is associated with higher rates of death
due to cancers of the gastrointestinal tract (liver, pancreas, stomach, esophagus,
colon and rectum, and gallbladder), and kidney, multiple myeloma, and non-
Hodgkin lymphoma, as well as prostate cancer in men and uterus, cervix, ovary,
and postmenopausal breast cancer in women.193 The risks of breast and
endometrial cancer fatality increase with both obesity and weight gain after age 18
years.194 The risk of breast cancer increases with increasing BMI in
postmenopausal women; in premenopausal women, increased BMI may actually
protect against breast cancer.195,196

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Obesity
Sheryl Ryan MD, in Pediatric Clinical Advisor (Second Edition), 2007

Definition
Obesity is having excess body fat or body weight. There is no one accepted
standard definition, and because of the difficulty of measuring body fat and the
ranges of heights across age, various criteria have been used. The most common
definition uses body mass index (BMI), which is weight in kilograms (kg) divided by
height in square meters (m2). The BMI correlates well with amount of body fat and
can be compared with age and gender‐matched standards. Obesity or overweight
is a BMI greater than the 95th percentile for age and gender; for obese adults, the
BMI is greater than 30. At risk for becoming overweight is a BMI between the 85th
and 95th percentile for age and gender; for adults, the BMI is between 25 and 30.
Using weight‐for‐height measurements is another way to assess adiposity.
Overweight, simple obesity, and morbid obesity are defined as weight‐for‐height
measurements of greater than 110%, 120%, and 140% of expected, respectively. A
BMI more than double the 85th percentile is also a definition of morbid obesity.

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Obesity
Hélène Huvenne, ... Béatrice Dubern, in Genetic Diagnosis of Endocrine Disorders
(Second Edition), 2016

Abstract
Obesity, defined as an excess fat mass, results from individual genetic and
biological susceptibilities in response to the current weight-gain promoting
environment. There is thus a synergistic relationship between genes and
environment. Depending on the genes involved, different clinical situations are
described: (1) monogenic obesity defined as rare and severe early-onset obesity
associated with endocrine disorders, which are mainly due to autosomic recessive
mutations in genes of the leptin-melanocortin axis – in some cases, such as leptin
deficiency, specific treatments are efficient; (2) melanocortin 4 receptor-linked
obesity characterized by the variable severity of obesity and the absence of
additional phenotypes, which are involved in 2–3% of cases and eventually may
benefit from new developed drugs (MC4R agonists); and (3) syndromic obesity
where patients are clinically obese, and additionally distinguished by mental
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retardation, dysmorphic features, and organ-specific developmental abnormalities.
No specific treatments are recommended except for hormonal substitution if
necessary (growth hormone or gonadotrope deficiency).

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