Assessment of people living with obesity
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7196/SAMJ.2025.v115i9b.3730Keywords:
Assessment, Obesity, Guideline, South AfricaAbstract
RECOMMENDATIONS
- We suggest that HCPs involved in screening, assessing and managing PLWO use the '5As' framework to initiate the discussion by asking for their permission and assessing their readiness to initiate treatment (Level 4, Grade D, Consensus).
- HCPs can measure height and weight and calculate BMI in all adults (Level 2a, Grade B), and measure waist circumference in individuals with a BMI 25 - 35 kg/m2 (Level 2b, Grade B).
- We suggest that a comprehensive history to identify root causes of weight gain as well as complications of obesity and potential barriers to treatment be included in the assessment (Level 4, Grade D).
- We recommend measurement of blood pressure in both arms, fasting glucose or glycated haemoglobin and lipid profile to determine cardiometabolic risk and, where appropriate, alanine transaminase to screen for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease in PLWO (Level 3, Grade D).
- We suggest that HCPs consider using the Edmonton Obesity Staging System to determine the severity of obesity and guide clinical decision-making (Level 4, Grade D)
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