American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and American College of Endocrinology Consensus Conference on Obesity: Building an Evidence Base for Comprehensive Action

Abstract

The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists/American College of Endocrinology "Consensus conference on obesity: building an evidence base for comprehensive action" convened March 23-25, 2014, in Washington, D.C. The premise of the conference was that by bringing together stakeholders in U.S. obesity care, representing the biomedical and public health models, new information would emerge to formulate actionable recommendations. Key conference findings include 5 affirmed and 8 emergent concepts. These concepts include the need for a medically meaningful and actionable diagnosis of obesity, research that evaluates and refines a complications-centric clinical approach to obesity, the need for a better understanding of reimbursement mechanisms and the value associated with obesity prevention and management, increased nutrition and obesity education, and enhanced public awareness and health literacy. Next steps include deriving a more robust medical definition of obesity, translation of the affirmed and emergent concepts into actionable recommendations in the interests of patients with obesity, and developing logistics for effective implementation.