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Showing results for tags 'Obesity'.
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Content ArticleThis prevention of future deaths report looks at the death of Ben King, who died of acute respiratory failure, obesity hypoventilation syndrome and use of sedative medication. Ben had Down's Syndrome and obstructive sleep apnoea and had been detained under the Mental Health Act at Jeesal Cawston Park (JCP) from 2018. Ben’s weight as at June 2019 was recorded at 85.2 kg which had risen to 106 kg by June 2020. He was given the sedative Promethazine after becoming agitated and found unresponsive on 29 July 2020. He died later that day at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.
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News Article
‘Alarming’ rise in type 2 diabetes among UK under-40s
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The number of people under 40 in the UK being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes is rising at a faster pace than the over-40s, according to “shocking” and “incredibly troubling” data that experts say exposes the impact of soaring obesity levels. The UK ranks among the worst in Europe with the most overweight and obese adults, according to the World Health Organization. On obesity rates alone, the UK is third after Turkey and Malta. The growing numbers of overweight and obese children and young adults across the UK is now translating into an “alarming acceleration” in type 2 diabetes cases among those aged 18 to 39, analysis by Diabetes UK suggests. There is a close association between obesity and type 2 diabetes. There is a seven times greater risk of type 2 diabetes in obese people compared with those of healthy weight, and a threefold increase in risk for those just overweight. “This analysis confirms an incredibly troubling growing trend, underlining how serious health conditions related to obesity are becoming more and more prevalent in a younger demographic,” Chris Askew, the chief executive of Diabetes UK, said. He added: “While it’s important to remember that type 2 diabetes is a complex condition with multiple other risk factors, such as genetics, family history and ethnicity, these statistics should serve as a serious warning to policymakers and our NHS. “They mark a shift from what we’ve seen historically with type 2 diabetes and underline why we’ve been calling on the government to press ahead with evidence-based policies aimed at improving the health of our nation and addressing the stark health inequalities that exist in parts of the UK.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 1 November 2022- Posted
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News Article
Coffey’s ‘ultra-libertarian’ health stance risks lives, Tory ex-minister warns
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
People could die because of Thérèse Coffey’s “ultra-libertarian ideological” reluctance to crack down on smoking and obesity, a Conservative ex-health minister has warned. The strongly worded criticism of the health secretary came from Dr Dan Poulter, a Tory MP and NHS doctor who served as a health minister in the coalition government from 2012 to 2015. Poulter claims Coffey’s “hostility to what the extreme right call ‘nanny statism’” is stopping her from taking firm action against the “major killers” of tobacco and bad diet. His intervention – in an opinion piece for the Guardian – was prompted by Coffey making clear that she opposed banning adults from smoking in cars containing children, even though the practice was outlawed in 2015 and is credited with reducing young people’s exposure to secondhand smoke. The government’s widely anticipated scrapping of measures to curb obesity such as the sugar tax and ditching of the tobacco control plan and health inequalities white paper – both of which previous health ministers had promised to publish – have led Poulter to brand Coffey’s stance “deeply alarming”. He writes: “More smoking and more obesity means more illness, more pressure on the NHS and shorter lives, particularly amongst the poorest in society. “I am acutely concerned that the health secretary’s ideological hostility to what history shows is government’s potentially very positive role in protecting us against these grave threats to our health will exacerbate the problems they already pose. “At its worst such a radically different approach to public health could cost lives, as it will inevitably lead to more people smoking and becoming dangerously overweight.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 18 October 2022- Posted
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News ArticleThe Government’s national obesity campaign risked turning fat-shaming into "wilful political strategy", said two humanities researchers in a new paper published in Sociology of Health and Illness. The Tackling Obesity campaign, launched by the Government "to improve health and protect the NHS during the COVID-19 pandemic", was "unproductive", "ineffective", "irresponsible", and could have led to "fat-shaming", they said. Moreover, the Government "perpetuated the neoliberal view that good health is essentially a matter of individual achievement earned through lifestyle choices and behaviour" - ignoring "the multiple structural and socioeconomic factors that contribute to obesity". Co-authors Dr Tanisha Spratt, lecturer in sociology in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Greenwich, London, and Luna Dolezal, associate professor in philosophy and medical humanities at the University of Exeter, said they were using the Tackling Obesity campaign "as an illustration" to explore "the dynamics between fat shaming, neoliberalism, ideological constructions of health and the 'obesity epidemic' within the UK". They said that fat shaming was a practice that "encourages open disdain for those living with excess weight [and] operates as a moralising tool to regulate and manage those who are viewed as 'bad' citizens". They regarded this as an example of "how the ideological underpinnings of 'health' have been transformed under neoliberalism". Fat shaming discourses that are often used as tools to promote 'healthy' lifestyle choices are "problematic", they said. Prof Dolezal, a principal investigator on the Wellcome-funded Shame and Medicine project, also co-authored a paper published earlier this month saying that the health and care system "should be more sensitive to people's 'shame'". Read full story Source: Medscape, 13 October 2022
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News Article
Obesity increases risk of COVID-19 death by almost 50%, study suggests
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Obesity may double the risk of falling seriously ill with Covid-19 and increase the chances of dying by almost 50 per cent, according to researchers, who also warned any future vaccine may be less effective for the clinically overweight. Health issues caused by obesity include a number of pre-existing conditions known to exacerbate a Covid-19 infection – including heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure. Now a global assessment of health data gathered since the start of the the pandemic by researchers at the University of North Carolina has found people with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of more than 30 were 113 per cent more likely to be hospitalised. Those admitted to hospital were found to be 74% more likely to be admitted to an intensive care unit, while the risk of death among obese patients increased by 48%. Read full story Source: The Independent, 26 August 2020 -
Content Article
National Maternity and Perinatal Audit lay summaries (2021)
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Maternity
The National Maternity and Perinatal Audit (NMPA) has produced lay summaries covering three of its sprint audits into: perinatal mental health services maternity care for women with a body mass index of 30kg/m2 or above ethnic and socio-economic inequalities in NHS maternity care. The NMPA is a large-scale project established to provide data and information to those working in and using maternity services. The purpose of NMPA is to evaluate and improve NHS maternity services, as well as to support women, birthing people and their families to use the data in their decision-making.- Posted
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Content ArticleThis study published in The Lancet analysed patient comments gathered from freely available websites using the Patient Experience Platform. It examined comments to identify disparity in care experiences of people who identified as overweight or living with obesity across all NHS Acute and Specialist Trusts and all general practitioners (GPs) in England from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2020. The study found that: across all regions, perceptions of the quality of care in the categories ‘Effective Treatment’ and ‘Emotional Support’ were significantly lower for people who identified as living with obesity compared to people who did not. people who identified as living with obesity in the negative behavioural cluster have a lower overall perceived quality of care score. barriers to quality care experienced by people who identified as living with obesity include speed of access, effective treatment, emotional support and stigmatising healthcare experiences.
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Content ArticleIn this blog, Dr Meghan Leaver, cofounder of PEP Health discusses factors that may prevent people living with obesity and overweight disease conditions from accessing high quality care. She argues that the current NHS focus on healthcare equality should extend to improving access and satisfaction amongst patients living with obesity. The author makes the case that the NHS is not weight inclusive, referring to a recent study in The Lancet that showed that people who identified as being overweight had significantly lower perceptions of the quality of care they were receiving compared with those who didn’t. She highlights that the issue disproportionately affects people from lower socio-economic backgrounds and calls for policy that empowers people to live healthier lifestyles.
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Content Article
Being fat & pregnant is not a crime (29 January 2022)
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Maternity
In this blog for Refinery29, Sadhbh O'Sullivan looks at the issues faced during antenatal care by pregnant women who are overweight. She recounts the perspectives of several pregnant women who felt dehumanised and blamed for their weight during pregnancy. She also highlights issues with the way in which risks are communicated to pregnant women, with overcommunication and overestimation of risk causing anxiety and sometimes making women reluctant to engage with maternity services. She also discusses failures of informed consent, the role of comorbidities and the impact of wider health inequalities. -
Content ArticleI this article for the Institute for Health Improvement, Rachel Hock highlights some of the safety concerns and issues that can arise through discriminatory attitudes and stigma associated with weight.
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Content ArticleDespite their widespread use, the impact of commissioners’ policies for body mass index (BMI) for access to elective surgery is not clear. Policy use varies by locality, and there are concerns that these policies may worsen health inequalities. This study in BMC Medicine aimed to assess the impact of policies for BMI on access to hip replacement surgery in England. The authors used National Joint Registry data for 480,364 patients who had primary hip replacement surgery in England between January 2009 and December 2019. They found that rates of surgery fell after localities introduced policies restricting access to surgery based on BMI, whereas rates rose in localities with no policy. Localities with BMI policies have higher proportions of independently funded surgery and more affluent patients receiving surgery, indicating increasing health inequalities, and policies enforcing extra waiting time before surgery were associated with worsening mean pre-operative symptom scores and rising obesity. The authors recommend that BMI policies involving extra waiting time or mandatory BMI thresholds are no longer used to reduce access to hip replacement surgery.
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Content ArticleThis WHO report includes six case studies from 12 individuals with lived experience of diverse health conditions. These case studies explore the topics of power dynamics and power reorientation towards individuals with lived experience; informed decision-making and health literacy; community engagement across broader health networks and health systems; lived experience as evidence and expertise; exclusion and the importance of involving groups that are marginalized; and advocacy and human rights. It is the first publication in the WHO Intention to action series, which aims to enhance the limited evidence base on the impact of meaningful engagement and address the lack of standardized approaches on how to operationalise meaningful engagement. The Intention to action series aims to do this by providing a platform from which individuals with lived experience, and organisational and institutional champions, can share solutions, challenges and promising practices related to this cross-cutting agenda.
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Content ArticleMultisectoral efforts to influence behaviours around healthy diet and exercise, while essential, have been insufficient to halt the rising prevalence of obesity. While these efforts must continue and escalate, it is now imperative to also deliver a corresponding health system response which ensures that services to prevent, treat and manage the disease are universally available, accessible, affordable, and sustainable. WHO “Health service delivery framework for prevention and management of obesity” offers a way forward.
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News Article
Fat-shamed by banter at my pregnancy scan
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
A mum-of-four said she felt "fat-shamed" at a pregnancy scan and during follow-up appointments. Alexandra Dodds said her weight was raised at every appointment, and circled with a pen so vigorously in her notes that she wanted to lose them. "It was just kind of jokes, like 'hope you've stopped the Christmas snacks', or 'make sure you've thrown the box of chocolates away'," said Ms Dodds. "I didn't feel like it was said in a spiteful way to try to upset me, it was like banter, but I don't feel like you can banter about that," she added. Baby Brianna was born healthy at home before a midwife could arrive in July, last year. Alexandra said she only felt able to speak out about what she wanted during her pregnancy and labour because of three previous pregnancies. "If I feel any level of shame, that's just a clear indication that I have to talk about it, because it means I'm not the only person and other people will understand," she added. Joint research by Cardiff University and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) found women with higher BMIs felt stigmatised by risk messaging in maternity care. The Wrisk Project, which surveyed more than 7,000 women, looked at how risk is communicated in pregnancy following concerns it didn't always "reflect the evidence base". Clare Murphy, director of BPAS, said the work showed they hadn't got it right. "Pregnant women are often infantilized, and it feels like sometimes decisions are made about them, for them," she said. The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) said care should be based on respect and understanding of women's needs. Read full story Source: BBC News, 3 January 2021 Related resources My ob-gyn kept shaming me for my weight gain during pregnancy - patient video -
News Article
US Patients can order ‘don’t weigh me’ cards to take to doctors
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Patients in the US are able to order “don’t weigh me” cards to take to the doctors in a move aimed at reducing anxiety and stress on a visit. The US group behind the initiative said being weighed and talking about weight “causes feelings of stress and shame for many people”. The cards say: “Please don’t weigh me unless it is (really) medically necessary.” It adds: “If you really need my weight, please tell me why so that I can give you my informed consent”. On the other side, it explains why the patient may not want to be weighed, including “when you focus on my weight I get stressed” and “weighing me every time I come in for an appointment and talking about my weight like it’s a problem perpetuates weight stigma”. It also says most health conditions can be addressed without knowing the patient’s weight. Public Health England guidance to health and care professionals says they are in a “unique position to talk to patients about weight management to prevent ill-health” and recommends brief interventions. It says the first step in a brief intervention over a patient’s weight is to weigh and measure them. “You should view this as a normal part of a routine consultation,” it says. Read full story Source: The Independent, 23 December 2021 -
News ArticleNHS England is set to launch 15 new specialist clinics for children living with severe obesity after the Covid pandemic shone a ‘harsh light’ on the crisis among vulnerable young people. Obesity currently affects one in five children in the UK. Each year, around one thousand children between the age of two to 18-years-old, and their family members, will benefit from the pilot scheme. The scheme will also offer access to dietitians, psychologists, specialist nurses, social workers, youth workers and a children’s doctor. Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of the NHS in England, described the coronavirus pandemic said: “The pandemic has shone a harsh light on obesity - with many vulnerable young people struggling with weight gain during the pandemic. “Left unchecked, obesity can have other very serious consequences, ranging from diabetes to cancer. “This early intervention scheme aims to prevent children and young people enduring a lifetime of ill-health. “The NHS Long Term Plan committed to take more action to help children and young people with their physical and mental health and these new services are a landmark moment in efforts to help them lead longer, healthier and happier lives.” Read full story Source: The Independent, 15 November 2021
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News ArticleIt has been recommended by UK researchers that patients, regardless of their metabolic rate, should be given weight management advice as people with obesity were still at risk of diabetes, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. A recent study found that regardless of your metabolic rate, it did not necessarily mean that the patient with obesity were healthy and that doctors should avoid using the term “metabolically healthy obesity” as it could be misleading. Read full story. Source: Nursing Times, 11 June 2021
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EventPoor lifestyle choices are leading to a rapid growth in non-communicable diseases, resulting in increased healthcare expenditure, preventable morbidity, and premature deaths. The increasingly sedentary nature of our lifestyles, which can lead to obesity or being overweight, has contributed to growth in the numbers suffering from type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Prevention and effective management of long-term conditions is likely to be more cost effective than treating the illnesses as they occur. This webinar will highlight how behaviour change can reduce the likelihood of becoming obese, becoming type 2 diabetic, or suffering from heart disease. The session will look at recommendations around four key health and wellness pillars; activity, sleep, stress and nutrition and how achieving balance across them can help prevent some non-communicable diseases. It will explore ‘social prescriptions’ and the role they can play to help those at risk of, or suffering from these diseases to actively participate in their own health and care. Additionally, it will consider how remote patient monitoring can help proactively manage these patient populations outside of primary and secondary care environments, reducing the burden on NHS resources. Register
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Content ArticleThe results of an analysis published by Cancer Research UK estimate that more than 21 million UK adults will be obese by 2040, which equates to almost 4 in 10 of the UK adult population (36%). The analysis also suggests that if current overweight and obesity trends continue, the number of UK adults who are overweight or obese may exceed this, reaching around 7 in 10 people, or 42 million people, by 2040, 71% of the population. Worryingly, the report also indicates that the number of people who are obese could overtake the number who are a healthy weight in the UK by 2040. This ‘tipping point’ could happen as early as the late 2020s for the UK as a whole and England, with Northern Ireland following suit in the late 2030s. For Scotland and Wales, the crossover is not expected to happen before 2040. The report also suggests those experiencing higher levels of deprivation could suffer the most. In England in 2019, 35% of people living in the most deprived areas were obese, and this is estimated to increase to almost half (46%) by 2040. In comparison, 22% of people living in the least deprived areas were obese in 2019 and this is estimated to increase to 25%. These projections predict an increase in the relative deprivation gap for obesity prevalence between the least and most deprived quintiles by 13%, from 45% in 2019, to 58% by 2040 in England. Obesity increases the risk of at least 13 different types of cancer. Every year around 22,800 cases of cancer in the UK are due to being overweight or obese. More research is needed to understand the link between obesity and cancer.
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Content ArticleBariatrics is the branch of medicine that deals with the causes, prevention and treatment of obesity and its associated diseases. This pathway written by East Kent Hospitals University Foundation NHS Trust (EKHUFT) provides guidance for multidisciplinary teams to allow them to provide appropriate care for each bariatric patient according to their unique shape, size and body dynamics.
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Content ArticleBlack, Latinx, and Native Americans are experiencing disproportionate burdens of infections, hospitalisations, and deaths from COVID-19. Similar disparities are observed in other countries where minority groups face hurdles in accessing health, education, and social services as well as affordable, healthy food. These stark manifestations of health inequities have emerged in the wake of a body of evidence linking obesity and obesity-related chronic diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease — conditions that disproportionately affect disadvantaged populations — with severe outcomes from COVID-19. Though the factors underlying racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 in the United States are multifaceted and complex, long-standing disparities in nutrition and obesity play a crucial role in the health inequities unfolding during the pandemic.
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Content Article
How should doctors discuss obesity with patients?
Claire Cox posted an article in Obesity
How can you discuss obesity with your patients in a respectful manner? Many doctors feel uncomfortable bringing up the topic of weight since they are afraid of being rude. So how should you do it? In the fifth part of the low carb for doctors series, Dr Unwin discusses how doctors can talk about obesity to their patients in a respectful way. -
Content ArticleIn this TEN podcast, Dr Aseem Malhotra talks about the UK obesity crisis, the definitions of metabolic syndrome and why, in a very clear way, it’s not too late for us all. He is now advising the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, about the links between obesity and metabolic syndrome and COVID-19 deaths. Dr Malhotra is an NHS Consultant Cardiologist, and world renowned expert in the prevention, diagnosis and management of heart disease. He is a founding member of Action on Sugar and was the lead campaigner highlighting the harm caused by excess sugar consumption in the United Kingdom, particularly its role in type 2 diabetes and obesity.
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Content ArticleAn estimated 1.3 billion people—16% of the global population—experience a significant disability today. People with disabilities have the right to the highest standard of health, however, this report by the World Health Organization (WHO) demonstrates that while some progress has been made in recent years, many people with disabilities continue to die earlier and have poorer health than others. The report demonstrates how these poor health outcomes are due to unfair conditions faced by people with disabilities in all areas of life, including in the health system itself.
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