Number Of Obese Subjects Research Articles

Prevalence of obesity and associated hypertension and diabetes in Delhi, metropolitan city of India

Abstract Background Obesity is a global health burden and is now described as ‘New World Metabolic Syndrome’. Worldwide, its prevalence is increasing geometrically due to changing lifestyle and is understood to be a multifactorial disorder. Objective To ascertain the fraction of obese population in Delhi, a metropolitan city of India. Materials and methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted on people (n = 652) of different age groups (11 years and above) belonging to different areas of Delhi. A questionnaire was prepared including fields such as age, sex, weight, height, food habits, qualification, occupation, exercise, disease, and medication. The data were analyzed, and correlation between obesity and various fields was drawn. Results Out of 652 subjects, 30.4% were overweight and 12.12% were obese. Number of obese subjects was maximum in the age group of 41–50 years, with more males and females in age groups of 11–30 and 31–50 years, respectively. Along with obesity, hypertension (25.9%) and diabetes (19.1%) were most commonly associated. Non-vegetarian diet preference was positively correlated with obesity. Food frequency did not have any significant correlation with obesity. Subjects with sedentary lifestyle were more prone to obesity. Conclusion Number of obese subjects is high in Delhi, and it is positively correlated with age. Obesity was positively associated with many diseases especially diabetes and hypertension. Thus, there is an urgent need to educate the masses regarding the benefits of exercise as awareness alone can help to manage this global epidemic.

Obesity as an infectious disease– review of the literature

Obesity, which is a pathological and excessive accumulation of body fat (WHO; World Health Organization), is the problem undertaken in the world literature for several decades. Significant mortality due to the obesity comorbidities is the basis to undertake an intensive work on the new preventive and therapeutic strategies worldwide. Nevertheless, due to the multifactorial origin of obesity and the growing number of obese subjects, the effectiveness of these strategies appears to be highly limited. Besides to the traditionally recognized etiological factors of obesity, many reports showing an association of infectious agents and uncontrolled weight gain have been published recently. In this paper we present an overview of reports confirming the association between infections and obesity. Data showed that a specific viral and bacterial infections as well as infections with protozoa and prions are associated with the increased intracellular accumulation of lipids, hypertrophy and hyperplasia of adipose tissue, body weight gain, increase of BMI and changes in lipid metabolism. These infections can serve as direct causal agents, but they can also interact with other environmental factors, thus increasing the predisposition to the development of obesity. There are at least a few hypotheses on the pathogenesis of “infectobesity.” There are some reports describing the damage of the central nervous system and hence the endocrine glands dysfunction due to infection, increased insulin susceptibility of infected cells, reduced production and release of leptin, increased glucose and fatty acids transport into adipocytes and inflammatory basis for infectobesity. Undoubtedly, awareness of the relationship between infections and obesity brings us closer to develop the effective preventive and therapeutic strategies, but it also raises the question about other, so far underestimated, environmental factors that increase the predisposition to obesity.

グアテマラ共和国地方都市コバン市住民の食生活と歩行からみた肥満

Serious malnutrition has been reported in the Republic of Guatemala, but on the other hand, increases in the number of obese subjects and chronic diseases are found in the urban region. We conducted this study to determine the actual situation and the causes of the obesity in the residents of Coban city located in the central part of this country. During initial survey, the physical characteristics were determined by a one-self-style questionnaire given to the adult inhabitants. In the second survey, we determined the dietary records, physical measurements and the amount of walking by the adult inhabitants. The obese subjects, who were more than 25 in BMI, were high in the two surveys.The ratio of obese subjects was from 39% to 46% in the two surveys. The daily average amount of walking was moderately higher compared to recent Japanese numbers. However, no significant correlation between the numbers and their BMI was observed. On the other hand, as for the energy and fat intake, there was a weak correlation tendency between the BMI when men and women were put together from the diet survey. No particular serious deficiency was seen in the intakes of vitamins and minerals. The data presented by the international organizations reveal a serious situation of malnutrition in the Republic of Guatemala. However, in Coban city, obese objects were common. In the Republic of Guatemala, it was shown that the difference is present in the nutrition/health problem by their area. Our results suggest the appropriate nutritional education for these people.

Dynamics of risk factor prevalence in Ryazan region population (5-year observation)

Aim: To assess 5-year prevalence of certain risk factors (RF) in men and women of Ryazan region. Methods: In 2002 as a part of Russian epidemiological EPOCH study, a representative sample of Ryazan region population was evaluated (2098 subjects, mean age 44.8±18.6 years). Sample generation was made in three steps: consecutive selection of medical institutions, GP districts and flats was made. With a response rate of 83.9% 1760 people were assessed in 2007, 200 died, 223 migrated, 13 withdrawn consent. Dynamics of risk factors prevalence was analysed: hypertension (HT), smoking, alcohol abuse, salt abuse, obesity, low physical activity, diabetes mellitus. Results: HT prevalence did not change over 5 years (36.6±1.1% vs. 39.3±1.2%), in women HT prevalence was higher in both 2002 (38.2% vs. 33.9%, p<0.05) and 2007 (42.1% vs. 34.8%, p<0.001). Smoking prevalence did not significantly change over 5 years (25.1% vs. 23.9%). Maximum smoking prevalence was found in the 30-39 years age group (62.1% of men and 13.8% of women). During 5-years the number of alcohol abusers decreased by 3.1% and amounted to 12.4% in men and 0.6% in women, which is less than in 2002 (15.8% and 1.6%). Prevalence of salt abuse after five years remained the same in both men (45.0% vs. 46.3% in 2002, p=0.62) and women (35.1% vs. 34.7% in 2002, p=0.27). There was a significant increase in number of obese subjects – from 18.8% to 22.6%, p<0.001. Obesity was more typical for women (28.3% vs. 14.0%, p<0.001), whereas it's prevalence increased over 5 years in both women (4.7%, p<0.001) and men (by 2.3%, p=0.068). Over the observation period, portion of subjects with low physical activity increased by 8.8%, p<0.001 (by 14% in men, p<0.001, and by 1.4% in women, p=0.48). Prevalence of diabetes didn't change (4.5% vs. 3.4% in 2002), both in men (3.2% vs. 2.4% in 2002), and in women (4.8% vs. 3.9% in 2002). As five years ago, most of the respondents in the assessed sample have a combination of several risk factors. The number of subjects with two factors increased from 28.4% to 32.2%, p<0.001, with three factors – from 15.6% to 21.3%, p<0.001. The number of subjects with more than 3 risk factors remained the same, and with no or only one factor decreased from 16.0% to 11.8%, p<0.001 and from 29.4% to 24.4%, p<0.001, respectively. Conclusion: A high prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors was revealed in the population of Ryazan region. Over a period from 2002 to 2007 there was a significant increase in number of subjects with obesity (from 18.8% to 22.6%, p<0.001).

The unrelenting fall of the pharmacological treatment of obesity

Nowadays pharmacological therapy to limit obesity has reached a critical stage: not only have Authorities limited the use of antiobesity drugs due to their proven inefficacy and dangerous side effects, but bariatric surgery has delivered better results. At present, when the number of obese subjects is growing exponentially worldwide and more and more pathological mechanisms inducing fat accumulation have been discovered, no drugs are available to help patients and physicians to limit one the most dreadful causes of death. Following the failures of promising drugs as sibutramine and rimonabant, many companies stopped to invest in the field of obesity pharmacotherapy. At the same time, leading Authorities have started to require more solid evidence before providing authorization for these drugs to enter the market. This review aims at revising the failed promises of antiobesity drugs and describing the few potential future candidates in order to shed some light in the still uncertain field of antiobesity drugs. It also provides a critical contribution to the ongoing debate among scientists, clinicians, patients and Authorities on the possibility to treat obesity with pharmacological drugs.

L’obésité, facteur de mauvais pronostic au cours de l’épidémie de grippe A (H1N1) 2009 : rôle des adipokines dans la modulation des défenses respiratoires

Pandemic influenza A (H1N1), which occurred during 2009, revealed some unexpected epidemiologic characteristics, notably the high number of obese subjects among the severe cases of influenza. Generally, obesity seems to be associated with a weakness when it comes to respiratory infections. This susceptibility may be the result of a concurrence of mechanical and hormonal factors due to the excess weight. Obesity leads to changes in the ventilatory mechanics and an increase in the metabolic load during exercise. It is associated with immune system changes. Adipokines, cytokines produced by adipocytes, including leptin, play a central role by modulating the activity of all the cells of the immune system. Finally, obesity is associated with an increased risk of thrombosis, which has an adverse effect on the prognosis of infections. All of these observations can explain that obesity has been a risk factor in serious cases of influenza.

Association of Trp64Arg polymorphism of the beta3-adrenergic receptor gene and no association of Gln223Arg polymorphism of the leptin receptor gene in Japanese schoolchildren with obesity.

To investigate whether Trp64Arg polymorphism of the beta3-adrenergic receptor (beta3-AR) gene and Gln223Arg polymorphism of the leptin receptor (Ob-R) gene are associated with obesity in Japanese schoolchildren. Population study of participants from a rural town located within 50 km northeast of Tokyo based on school medical examinations. 553 Japanese schoolchildren (291 boys and 262 girls) who were 9-15 y old with a mean age of 11.9 +/- 1.8 y. DNA was extracted from whole blood and genotyped by PCR-RFLP. Height, weight and blood pressure were measured in school medical examinations. Total cholesterol, triglyceride and HDL-cholesterol concentrations were measured by an autoanalyzer. Obesity index, body mass index (BMI) and LDL-cholesterol concentration were calculated by the respective formulae. In Trp64Arg polymorphism of the beta3-AR gene, the number of obese subjects with Trp/Arg or Arg/Arg genotypes was significantly higher than that of the non-obese subjects (chi2=5.79, P=0.02). The obesity index of subjects with the Arg/Arg or Arg/Trp genotype was significantly higher than that of those with the Trp/Trp genotype (8.2 +/- 18.7% vs 4.5 +/- 15.8%, P=0.04). Moreover, after adjustments for age and gender, BMI of subjects with the Trp/Arg or Arg/Arg genotype was significantly higher than that of those with the Trp/Trp genotype (19.4 +/- 3.6 kg/m2 vs 18.9 +/- 3.2 kg/m2, P= 0.02). However, no significant differences were observed in the clinical characteristics among the genotype groups of the Ob-R gene. Trp64Arg polymorphism of the beta3-AR gene appears to be a genetic risk factor for obesity in Japanese children, but Gln223Arg polymorphism of the Ob-R gene does not appear to be associated with obesity.