­AACE: New Guidelines Address Obesity Management

The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) has released new clinical practice guidelines that are comprehensive and relevant to clinicians treating and managing obesity.

Obesity was designated as a disease in 2012, because it has become an increasing problem around the world and is related to many other health conditions. In an effort to optimize patient outcomes, the AACE created a task force charged with creating evidence-based recommendations for treating obesity as a disease.

The recommendations expand on AACE’s 2014 obesity framework to cover screening, diagnosis, evaluation, selection of therapy, treatment goals, and individualization of care.

To construct the recommendations, the task force developed questions that addressed evaluating, screening, and diagnosing patients with obesity; electronically searched the relevant databases for published literature that answered those questions; and rated each recommendation based on scientific strength of the evidence (strong, intermediate, weak, or no substantiation).

As a result of this process, the task force created 123 recommendations with 160 specific statements, organized in response to 9 broad questions that cover the spectrum of obesity management.

For example, the first question they addressed was “Do the 3 phases of chronic disease prevention and treatment—ie, primary, secondary, and tertiary—apply to the disease of obesity?” They recommend:

• The modality and intensity of obesity interventions should be based on the primary, secondary, and tertiary phases of disease prevention; this 3-phase paradigm for chronic disease aligns with the pathophysiology and natural history of obesity and provides a rational framework for appropriate treatment at each phase of prevention.

“The objectives of these CPGs are to provide an evidence-based resource addressing rational approaches to the care of patients with obesity and an educational resource for the development of a comprehensive care plan for clinical endocrinologists and other health care professionals who care for patients with obesity,” the task force concluded.

Read the full guidelines here.

—Amanda Balbi

Reference:

Garvey WT, Mechanick JI, Brett EM, et al. American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and American College of Endocrinology clinical practice guidelines for comprehensive medical care of patients with obesity – executive summary [published online May 24, 2016]. Endocrine Practice. doi:10.4158/EP161365.GL.